Saturday, 29 December 2012

Scenes from a holiday



Trees laden with new-fallen snow...




Piste-side refreshments for all ages...






High clouds and empty slopes...




The twinkliest of trees on evening promenades...




Tinkling bells and horses' hooves announce new arrivals...




Early mornings and days full of fresh air and fun...




Having the loveliest of holidays here on the French-Swiss borders, in the Portes du Soleil.
Mr U-t-B retired just before Christmas, and this long holiday is his celebration, which we've been lucky enough to get dragged along to!

Thursday, 27 December 2012

Hanging in there - from the top of a mountain

So, the mountain didn't crack open, setting loose a gazillion little green men.  

Just to set the record straight, I wasn't overcome with belief in the Mayan calendar, and it was not the mountain at Bugarach that had drawn us, but the enticing prospect of skiing for Christmas, in our favourite alpine spot.

And I'm now accessing the internet in possibly the highest launderette in the world (well, it's the highest one in this resort!) as a hoolie blows outside, sending snow spinning and spiralling all about.

We had a lovely Christmas Day, with a fine coq au vin cooked by my sister-in-law Mary, a flaming Christmas Pudding, brandy butter and custard - what more could one wish for? We played a quiz and had a game of Monopoly which I managed to win without ever having landed on anything to buy! 

I can't often get on the internet, so this is brief and photo-less, and comes with my belated wishes for all of you reading, that you had a very lovely Christmas too, and that you are now having a fantastically relaxing time after putting all the hard work behind you!




Thursday, 20 December 2012

A Pre-Christmas Christmas

Miss U-t-B called it 'Fake Christmas'  (though in the end she rather loved it!)  - a special family meal together with an exchange of gifts last Sunday, because some of us are going to be out of the country for Christmas Day itself.  

And because I'm one of the ones now 'out of the country' all I can post here is a little collage put together by Zosia's lovely Mum, because although I thought I'd uploaded photos to use while I am away, I am clearly technologically challenged, as nothing has shown up!  

Ah well!
Here's our new house guest Rudolph; Zosia having the best sort of Christmas fun with some of the packaging; one of the biscuits I made as place settings; and our tree!  

I am very impressed with what Instagram has done to make it look so sparkly and magical!



I now find myself in France, with a large mountain in plain view from the window.
If it cracks open and aliens pour out tomorrow,  I will let you know!




Monday, 17 December 2012

Not just me then...

Who likes polar bears, that is. 

(I do like them when they are wooden, stuffed or dancing in photos.  I don't think I'd care to meet a real one!)

Zosia has found a new playmate. Mr PB (Polar Bear) used to be 'The Bear Under the Stairs' who wrote notes on a regular basis to a newly-at-school Miss U-t-B.  He has now been re-discovered.  Seems in the intervening years he has gone off note writing.  Now he prefers to dance with his toddler friend...




Snuggle in tight when there's something scary on the television 
(Sorry Baby Jake - I think it was you!)...




Wear other people's glasses 
(Pinched from me by his pint-sized partner in crime)...




Get lots of kisses and hugs...




And when it all gets too much, climb in the pushchair and have a jolly good nap!




 Thank you for your kind comments recently, especially yesterday.

And welcome to new followers!




Sunday, 16 December 2012

Remembering...



...my beautiful, quirky, brave best friend, who should have been celebrating a landmark birthday today.

Sunday, 9 December 2012

Oops! (And then even more oops...)


Oh dear!  I am a forgetful sort!  

 The month before last, I got tagged by Ada, the very lovely, colourful Vintage Sheet Addict.  I racked my brain and came up with eleven facts about myself...

 (My!  It was hard!  I clearly don't know much about myself!) 

...and answered the eleven questions Ada had set, but broke off to enjoy a highly cultural evening watch the X-Factor and forgot to do the rest of the challenge.  

Then last month I've was tagged again, by Penny of The Hen House, who makes me smile with almost every post she writes (apart from the ones where tops of Christmas trees go missing, and the like).  I'm clearly not running fast enough...

So, some days back I was thinking, can I scrape any more 'interesting' facts about myself out of my clearly befuddled brain?  

Can I come up with any clever and sparkling questions to ask, and can I catch up with any bloggy friends who want to play?

Can I finish a post and publish it before once again finding myself distracted by all manner of Christmassy diversions?


Clearly the answer to the latter was a huge NO as it's now many days since I began this. Nonetheless I'll get started (AGAIN) and see where I get to!

First some facts...


1.  I am now a reformed character as far as Saturday and Sunday night television is concerned.  I now watch Strictly if I can, rarely watch the X-Factor, and have even (almost) been won over by Downton Abbey (though I'd still rather watch Lark Rise to Candleford, Call the Midwife or Pride and Prejudice).



Yes, of course I mean THAT version.


2.  I am a bit of a hoarder, though (quite) a tidy one.  There are things I just can't bear to part with, such as my childhood egg cup...




The deer with the killer eyelashes!


...the mug I bought when I went to the seaside (Bournemouth I think) for the first time at the age of about four...



(Funny it never occurred to me that this was probably intended for a boy till now!  My sister's was a pretty shade of shell pink!)

and

all sorts of 'silly' bits and pieces
(better not say what - Mr U-t-B will start getting itchy fingers for a big chuck-out...).



3.  I once signed up for evening classes in woodwork, in the hope that it would be a brilliant way of meeting young men (I thought it would be cheaper than joining a dating agency, and I'd learn something practical too!)  Sadly for my plan, the class was almost entirely made up of women (wonder whether they all had the same idea?) though I did make a carved polar bear, which I rather love (even if Miss U-t-B refuses to believe I made it!)








4.  I iron my tea towels. 



5.  This little autocorrected phone message gave me the most uncontrollable fit of the giggles I've had for months...






6.  I'd rather have a bag of American Hard Gums than a bar of chocolate.



7.  I do not know how to crochet.



8. This made me smile for ages...



Found on Pinterest, but from 9gag.comhttp://9gag.com/
Source: 9gag.com via Alix on Pinterest





9. If money were no object, I'd buy a shepherd's hut for the garden...








10. Oh.  
We don't have a garden large enough to accommodate a shepherd's hut.
So, in my dreams, I would up sticks and buy a pretty Georgian house with a spacious garden in which to place my little hideaway.  Something like this would do!







11.  In reality, I am perfectly happy with our late Victorian end-of-terrace house, even if the garden is small.











Next, Penny's questions.




1. What do you want Father Christmas to bring you this year ?



A beautifully cold but sunny day with snow on the ground and a nice vin chaud around which to warm my hands.  (Oh, and if he thinks I've been REALLY good, this DVD would be great...



2. If you could swap a day in the life of... who would it be?


I think I'd chose to become Penny's new kitten Finn.  I'd be super-cute and play all day long with a potato!


3.  If you could change your first name, what would you be called ? 

I am completely stumped by this one.  Truth be told, even if I could change it, I wouldn't.  Well done to my parents for choosing me a name I really like!


4. On a desert Island, what would be your item of luxury?


A pair of cashmere socks for the chilly night-times - I hate to have cold feet!


6. If you could be a character in a book, who would you be ?

I have answered this one before and said Milly-Molly-Mandy, but if she was already taken, I would chose Juliet Ashton in The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, especially if Dawsey Adams was a Richard Armitage-alike (as requested for the upcoming film on Facebook!)



7. If you were casting a new Jane Eyre film, who would be your Mr Rochester ? 

Greg Wise might be nice...




8. What can you simply not eat ?

Tripe!  Not that I've ever been offered it again after the once I remember my Mum cooking it.  But I think if I saw it in front of me again, it'd give me the heebie-geebies.


Bleuuurrrgh!


9. What is your all time romantic scene in a film ?


In 'The Holiday' when Cameron Diaz drops by to see Jude Law and learns he's a widower with two small daughters.  The scene where they are all together in the girls' bedroom tent, chatting and giggling, is  (to me) more romantic than many a more overtly romantic scene...





10. What is the most memorable thing a teacher said to you ?


'You make such a lovely 'o' shape with your mouth when you sing, I'm giving you the part of Mary.'  (Said by my first year junior teacher.  Sadly, the Nativity play got shelved shortly after (I think my lovely teacher was off sick) so I never got to show the world the fabulous o-ness of my singing mouth, and though I have resolutely sung with a nicely shaped mouth ever since, leading roles have been in short supply...)



11.  How do you like your eggs in the morning ?!!!

Left in the fridge to await turning into a cake - I'm a muesli girl in the morning.




So, now I'm meant to ask questions and tag people.  But I've run out of steam...I think I will have to accept that I am the most hopeless tagee, and really, I should retire now and sit on the benches and watch the games from afar!  So please forgive me for not completing the challenge properly (I'll have to get a sick-note next time!)

Monday, 3 December 2012

How did that happen?

I mean November turning into December?




It was a bit of a whirlwind last week what with one thing and another!  There was another family birthday, two days with little Sophia (who henceforth will probably be called by the version of her name she choses for herself, Zosia) and two days at markets.   Wish I could say that all my shopping is therefore done, but sadly, it is not!  

Isn't the old Christmas card cute?  It was in amongst a pile of old photos, one of a few I will have to share here over the next few weeks.

The birthday girl is keen to do some sewing, so a red-and-white polka dot basket was purchased and filled with things that will hopefully be useful.  I personalised the contents a little with a patchworked needle roll and matching pincushion (which I failed to take a snap of!)

I was pleased with the roll - I sandwiched red ric-rac between a pieced layer of Liberty Bloomsbury and other red and white based fabric and another of red wool felt, then machined round.  

I love the finish this gives the edge (though it does require some careful tacking in order to get a neat finish - not something I usually do!)




Plenty of room for lots of needles...




And a name stitched on the outside so no-one else can lay claim to it!





Just a short post today (I do ramble on most days, so I'll give you a break today!) as we're off on a jaunt towards the coast, in search of the big blue-and-yellow building that some call heaven and some call hell...