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.