Aprés Scotland

Home safe and sound from the great north. Driving home is great, it's all downhill and you can practically take your foot off the gas and coast from Glasgow all the way to the M62, or at least it feels that way. We were fantastically fortunate with the traffic both ways, which is an amazing feat around the bank holiday.

While I was there I went to a little craft shop in my sister's street and got a ball of wool. not just any old ball of wool mind you, this is variegated colourings of brown through cream and orange. Not the kind of colours I'd usually go for at all, but it was so beautiful that I had to have it. There was only the one of them and it was a quid, so I'm pleased as anything. I've spent a bit of time today making this with it. It's about 10cm across, so it's a giant of a flower when compared with my others. It's all done in one continuous piece, a new technique for me.

Tartiflette

  The little break was just splendid. The weather was glorious and we had a great time with my sis and girls. We miss them terribly so it's always an absolute treat to see them. Much amazing food was had (back to my frugal eating ways again after today). Sis made tartiflette, one of my all time favourite dishes. She also got up early and made us a huge apple cake before she went to work so it was waiting for us when we arrived. How brilliant is she?

Sis and I on our bench on the green

She loved the flower brooch and wore it the whole time I was there, as you can see in the photo. I must also mention that the bag I'm holding came from Folksy seller and maker of fabberoony things, Jane at PidgeonStitch

We stumbled across a brilliant charity shop where I got some old fashioned sewing books (I'm addicted to books) and little peculiar things. One such item was a carved wooden apple with removable articulated worm. I don't know why I had to have it, but I did. I also made a spectacular find of some pure lambswool jumpers that will be massacred and made into something completely different very soon. I've looked in my local charity shops for months and not found any, so I was overjoyed.

I did crafting with my nieces after school. They were tired and overwrought but they did me proud. They made a shopping bag each, a resist painting and a hairband with organza flowers, all in the space of a couple of hours. We did most of this outdoors in the garden and had a great time picking nosey flies out of the liquid latex on the paper.

Speaking of gardens, I must give an honourable mention to the birds. I say birds, though the little beasties almost defy description. The racket of them was something to behold. Dawn chrous my arse, it was more like punk anthems a-gogo. They're also very fat and land in the grass with a great "WHUMP", a bit like you'd expect a small meteorite to settle. The cat kept running off, scared for its life, but it is a soft southern cat so you wouldn't expect it to have anything like the balls those birds display.

I've come home to a not so brilliant time. I don't handle frustration and anger too well and I've spent most of the day being all a-dither. I won't go into detail, no sense in bringing the world down with me, eh? We went to the flicks this afternoon to try and shake off the bad moodedness, but Thor was a total arsepit of a movie and only served to vex me further at the plight of the world.

Onwards and upwards for tomorrow. Jay's still off work so we'll make the most of the rest of the holidays.