A winter garden on our anniversary

Today is our wedding anniversary so we decided to have a little trip out to Dunham Massey in Cheshire.It is a NT property and last year they opened their winter garden.We have been to the NT winter garden at Anglesey Abbey near Cambridge which is spectacular.The winter garden at dunham is in it's infancy and a little delayed by the recent severe weather.

Poor ducks scrabbling around on the ice.

I am sure this was even more spectacular a few days ago.

Red cornus alba stems.

Silver birches.

Hydrangeas and ?

An amazing tree.

The Well House.

We had a lovely trip out and then ate out locally tonight.Just settling down now to watch The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas to everyone.Hope you have a happy and healthy Xmas.

Above and below are the two hanks of yarn that were in my secret santa box.The one above has been hand dyed by Allison and is gorgeous.It is laceweight pure alpaca and in the most beautiful shades called Forest Fruits.Even C ,who shows little interest in yarn,said "wow that is lovely and so soft".Watch out other companies Sugar Hippo is one to watch.

The one below is fyberspates 4ply "forest".The photo doesn't do it justice.It is a lovely soft green.

How cute is this gingerbread house!

This has already been used when I took a sneaky afternoon nap to ready myself for 5 days of 5 grandchildren.

Also in the box were hand creams-very special- Burts Bees and some festive hand soap.

So thank you very much.I loved all the items but my favourite is the hand dyed alpaca.

secret santa

I couldn't wait any longer!Sarah and Allison had opened theirs so I thought why not open mine.Thank you so much -gorgeous yarn,hand cream,hand soap and more.Photos tomorrow.Now not going to Cambridge until Thursday.a lot of snow has been forecast for here overnight.
Hope you are feeling better Allison.

secret santa

My Secret Santa box has arrived and it is huge.I can't wait to see what is inside but I am restraining myself until xmas day.We are anxiously watching the weather as we are off to Cambridge on Wednesday.The one thing I am dreading is freezing fog.Not too much snow here but it is bitterly cold.

Terry Pratchett Discworld

Our not very stylish tree.We shall be away over xmas but I still like the tree up and leave the curtains open so passers by can see in.

More lights on the mantelpiece which is opposite the window and can also be seen.

I have finished one edging on my Debbie Abrahams blanket.You end up with 273 stitches on your needle and that is just one side.Three more to go.The 2011 blanket starts on Jan 1st so I had better get a move on!

Closer detail of the edging.It was rather daunting but does look good and will bring the whole blanket together.

It was my reading group this morning and the book we were discussing was Small Gods by Terry Pratchett.We had a good Q and A session but I didn't particularly enjoy the book.It was funny but not my kind of thing.Have you read any?

FRom there we went off to Bolton to meet my brother at my stepmother's to exchange presents.When we set off it was +4 o .Then it started dropping,right down to zero and as soon as we got there it started snowing and sticking.We quickly scurried back home but the forecast for the next two days is bad.Hopefully we will make it to Cambridge on Wednesday.

All the presents are wrapped!

Apart from C all the presents are bought and wrapped.Some friends of ours are moving house at the weekend and are bringing their wine collection,houseplants etc to our house tomorrow so I needed everything out of the way and in bags ready to go to their different destinations.
I have sent off my secret santa box and hope the recipient will enjoy opening it on Xmas Day.I shall cetainly keep mine for the big day.
We shall be in Cambridge and had booked to go out for Xmas dinner,12 of us.My son had an email yesterday to say they had decided not to do it.Fortunately they have managed to book somewhere else.Not easy for 12.My DIL would have been in a panic if we hadn't managed somewhere else as she is working until Xmas eve but we would have all joined in and helped but crisis over.

How exciting!

How exciting.I won Kathy's giveaway(postcardsfromthepp).I thought it was just a book but is was a whole goody bag, all beautifully wrapped and a gorgeous handmade card.When I opened the first package(above) this lovely book was in it.I can't wait to read it.

There were lovely Christmassy things.

This photo decided to go side on!

And a candle and an owl to add to my collection.There was also a chocolate snowman,hot chocolate kit and some needles.I was so thrilled and so much thought had gone into it.Thank you so much Kathy.It made my day.It needed cheering because among the xmas post C had a tax demand for over £400.He is one of the losers in the inland revenue mistake.I hope I am not close behind.You work hard ,pay your taxes and then when you retire they tax your pension!Then they get it wrong and they want even more.

Hoar frost

I havn't seen hoar frost like this for ages.This what I what I was talking about yesterday but I hadn't got the camera with me.Today we were off to Chester/Wirral again.Yesterday we were looking after Ruby while Sarah had tests for Addison's Disease at the hospital.We expected to look after Ru for an hour but it turned into three as they were running late,someone had a heart attack on the unit and the tests just took longer.What do you do with a three year old for three hours when it is minus 5!We went to a garden centre where we knew they would have toys out plus a cafe.We then went to a supermarket cafe for lunch.She is so good but never stops talking.We couldn't get a word in edgeways..Her favourite word of the day was "actually".She wanted to know in the garden centre toy area where the bike was.The assistant said they hadn't put it out this year.She had remembered from last year!!She was three a few weeks ago.S's husband had his appointment yesterday at Christies to find out what they were going to do about his brain tumour.They kept him waiting for 90 minutes and then told him the panel hadn't had time to discuss his case!You can well imagine he was furious.Mike is totally laid back and very calm but he lost his rag and insisted on seeing the professor which he did.The prof had the 2 registrars in and tore a strip of them ,in front of Mike,for getting him there and then nothing to tell him.They have promised he will hear in the next 2 weeks.I think the worry and the not knowing is getting to all of us.The only consolation is that they mustn't think it is high priority but we just want to know.I try to put it to the back of my mind but it is difficult.

More hoar frost pictures.

Some wintry scenes

These photos were taken this afternoon about 5 minutes from our house.We had been to Chester this morning where the frost was amazing but I had no camera with me!We grabbed the camera when we got back and these are quite good at Loggerheads.

Llanferres.

Little jobs

I find it very difficult to do little finishing off jobs.I finished a waistcoat for Emily and a jacket for me weeks ago but have just never got round to blocking them or sewing on the buttons.My Debbie Abrahams squares are finished but not joined together.This afternoon I switched on Radio 4 for Weekend Women's Hour and I got cracking.Ok the buttons aren't on but they are pressed and I havn't done the edging on the blanket but it is all in one piece.Things are moving forward.
I sat there thinking about all these lovely crafty blogs I read and how productive people are.I came to the conclusion that a lot of them are stay at home mums so have all day to themselves.I have all day to myself,being retired, but I have a husband who is here too.Now he isn't the kind of person who expects me to do things with him.We both have many different interests and hobbies but he is around!I never get a whole day to myself.I shouldn't complain as he does most of the cooking and he can iron too!!( but he's not very good at DIY.)
My latest project Ican't say much about as it is hopefully going in the Xmas box.

I'm off to Posh Yarns website now to see if I can spot some wool as Harrogate was so disappointing on that front.