Midsummer Day: Sunset 21:36

So in my previous post I showed my photos of sunrise this morning and now I can show you sunset this evening. It was amazing, it wasn't the best sunset I have ever seen but the sun was a ball of gold which is always amazing :)

Now, I am soo tired :) It was definitely worth it though.

I can't wait to scrap them.

I love Midsummer Day, I hope you had a good one.

Midsummer Day: Sunrise 05:01

June 24th, Midsummer Day, one of the quarter days of England, The Feast of St John The Baptist. 

There is something as magical as Christmas and the winter quarter day about Midsummer for me. It hasn't been very pleasant or summery at all the past 2 years but today was promised to be better so I set my alarm to see if I could drag myself out of bed to see the sunrise. I did and it was worth every yawn I shall stretch today =)

Take no notice of the wonky horizon, it's not real, the sea isn't going to run off, just 5am eyes lol.

Whatever you are doing today, I wish you a very Happy Midsummer Day. 

Summer Bucket List #1. Devon County Show

I have kept meaning to go to the Devon County Show, well at least since I moved back home to Devon 8 years ago. 

As a teenager? No, it was not something I would have wanted to do. I wanted out of the country and to get to a city and when I didn't want to study on a beautiful spring evening I made myself think about the city and how COOL it would be. It was COOL and I thoroughly enjoyed myself, but when it was time to come back I started to think that the county show would be fun. Anyhoo, I never work out enough in advance to take the weekend off ( I work in retail and Saturdays are manic).

This time I really fancied it and knowing that I have a child young enough to still want to go made my mind up. I arranged with the school to take him out for the day (they are really good about this sort of thing knowing that a lot of parents work all the seasonal times as that is when it is busy).

 Ali loved seeing all the animals, but it was so interesting to see him be a bit wary, at his age I had lived on an island and then next to a farm so I was unafraid of animals and used to handling and being around them, It made me really happy that I had done this for him.

One of the first prize winners :)

A Goat in a (very fancy) Coat :)

I loved seeing the judges in bowler hats.

Camilla was there.

The dancing diggers were there, and who doesn't love dancing diggers?

Pocket money was spent on a new cuddly, a snake!

We went to the fun fair whilst Nanny went to the flower pavilion. "It went up and then it went down Nanny, it was awesome" :)

Ali was invited to sit on the paramedics motorbike, I think he seemed pretty happy with that :)

We saw the TV cameras, a juggler and the BMX stunt team.

After all the excitement we all needed to slow down and instead of going home we went down to the showground and spent 4 hours there just chilling and watching the amazing entertainment.

I know my friend Maria will enjoy these snaps.

Ali met some new friends and played for ages.

And we just chilled out so much after a hard and cold winter. Just lovely to be in the sunshine.

(Simple Stories Vintage Bliss papers. Minibook instructions from Sue) Thank you, Sue.

It was just blinkin' lovely and so gorgeous to be out of doors with my dookie :)

A great start to our Summer Bucket List. The point of which to me is to get outdoors with the family or to spend time with them that we might all have let slide.

I totally recommend attending your County Show. Devon is first, so there may still be time to go to yours.

Perfick.

Summer Bucket List

A few weeks ago on Becky Higgins' blog, she linked up to the Solar Family and their Happy Family Movement website where they host an annual Summer Bucket List. They are encouraging other families around the world to compile their own Summer Bucket List. It's a simple 'things to do' list. 

In our family we started off with 13 'big' things, one a week until the end of August and added in lots of little things that we like to do in the summer and new things to try that are smaller, or quicker or cheaper :)

I have scrapped the bucket list, I bought paper from Studio Calico's Atlantic range that I have fallen for erm, hook, line and sinker. (Well, a nautical themed paper just needed that gag. Here in my head and silent blog you are all laughing your heads off. Yes, of course you are.)

I have bought some embellies from the same line and I have downloaded some cut files from Two Peas and had a happy hour cutting them out in various sizes and papers. I added in from my stash and now have a lovely kit for scrapping with all summer.

I may have mentioned a million times about my part-time working last winter, well sadly I can't afford to do that, so I started looking round at work for a new challenge so that a) I can really enjoy my work again and b) I can earn more. I am absolutely thrilled this week as I got the promotion I went for and will spend this summer getting ready to open a new store that I will be the boss of :D

So apart from the fact I am thrilled and want to tell the world ;) I know it will have an impact on how much time I will have for scrapping. So the plan is, do the bucket list, add it to general project life information and use the kit to scrap it all. 

That is the plan anyway lol.

And actually, we have ticked six items already. The first one we did was to go to the devon county show and i'll tell you about that next time.
Thanks for coming by and I appreciate the comments about google reader and bloglovin and blogger. I am going to spend some time trying to see if I can sort it out today so I can comment.

Check in.

Hello, I'm checking in as I haven't been able to squeeze in a post this last fortnight. I have been out and about ticking items off the Summer Bucket List, details to follow tomorrow. I have been doing a bit more DIY around the house and preparing hard for a job interview. I am also having a problem with Blogger (I am assuming here) in that I can see all your blogs fine in bloglovin and on your sites but it will not let me comment. So apologies to all of you that I owe comments to, I am still reading and enjoying. Please let me know in the comments if you have had a similar problem and how you fixed it. It is driving me nuts! Thank you in advance.

Ok I will be back tomorrow, I will leave you with another of the photos from our recent outing. A blissful day.

Storytelling Sunday: Pick Your Precious|Fisher Price Clock

Hello Storytelling Sunday time =) Are you sitting comfortably? Good then we will begin, over at Sian's From High In The Sky where she always gets things started on the first Sunday of the month. It's definitely a good time for a cup of coffee or tea and time to sit and have a good read.

As a little girl my favourite toys were my Selly (beloved cuddly soft plushy elephant that I took everywhere, who is the subject of the most vivid dream I can remember from my childhood and who tragically I lost on a cross channel ferry when I was, ahem, 13). That is a whole other story, but I no longer have her as a precious belonging. 

I also loved my plastic pram and doll with her blanket and her teddy. My favourite above those and I am fortunate that Mum has kept for me is my Fisher Price teaching clock.

I am astounded you can still buy it here. I want to buy one now in case I have any grandaughters (or grandsons :))

You can see a pristine one here;

but mine is much more played with;

*I remember swinging it and can feel the weight and heft of it in my smaller hands and how far it hung down next to my much shorter legs.

*I adore the pictures on the side panel showing the moon and sun and how even though I knew every inch of the clock by memory I would still sometimes catch sight of that panel and sit and look at it properly.

*I am still transported to a very safe and happy place and time with a strong sense of my family by the beautiful, slightly melancholic, tinkly tune as it plays.

Here have a listen if you like, because maybe you had one too?

Thanks so much for reading my story. Have a great week.