My thoughts this morning are very much with the family of PC Barker - the policeman who lost his life in Cumbria. You send them out to work day and night knowing that they do a very dangerous job, but you never allow yourself to think that they might not come home. God Bless.

Chez Heartshaped

and Harmony reign once more.

Hormonal teenagers, Menopausal Mother and a hubby who needs a shed to retreat to. What a mix.

Grumpy

This weekend my hubby and kids have made me feel like this.
And so this morning, I took off with the only person still talking to me - myself! to Wentworth Garden Centre .
This place has been saving my sanity for years. Its literally a 3 minute drive, or 20 minute walk and is like an Oasis in the desert to me.
They have their Christmas preparations well under way with a series of festive events planned - including late night openings with a Victorian theme every Wednesday in December.

Sorry about this poor photo - I was trying to film in secret!

They have some great decorations. I sometimes feel personally responsible for the current economic crisis as I am not really a "spender" and so I bought a few of the decorations that have been mass produced in China and shipped all the way to blighty in those marvellous container thingy's to relieve my guilt. If the country goes to the wall now - its not my fault.

Santa (who is appearing here every weekend) was in consultation with a 4 year old. I couldn't tell just by looking if they would be on the naughty or nice list - probably a bit of both!

Outside was looking slightly festive too.

It even has a stable with a real manger for the the real reindeer's.

It has lovely gardens that are free to walk around. I am seeing lots of this as winter takes grips. According to folklore it means a harsh winter. A White Christmas would be great!!!

The gardens have no flowers left, but still plenty of colour. If you enlarge the next photo, you can see the entrance to the Bear Pit.

I noticed some really spectacular fungi. I poked my toe in this shot so you could see how huge this was.

This, by comparison was so tiny.

And this made a circle, that I stood in and made a wish.

I then had a wander through the lovely village.

And called in the wool barn and had a good look around.

Back to the garden centre car park via the church path

Where a combination of blue skies,

wide open spaces and a lovely refreshing breeze,

has made me feel calm once more. Families. Can't live with 'em. can't live without 'em!!!

The Battle of the Bounce

The dancing queens crew came 2nd in a recent "Battle of the Bounce" Competition - thought you might like to see it. Can you spot her?

Revealed at last!!!

I can finally reveal my PIF gifts as all the recipients have now received them.

Firstly, for BumbleBeeCottage I made a tote bag and lavender bag in a Christmas fabric as she has a bit of a thing for Christmas (if you pay her a visit, she appears to have her tree up already!!). I also added a button "B" and some snowball buttons to her bag. I also made her 3 Scottie dogs for her tree and a denim corsage with buttons in the centre.



For A Bun Can Dance I chose a yellowish theme as she also has another blog called I choose Yellow. I love the American "Jail house rock" panels so popped one of these on the pocket panel of her tote bag. I also sent her a daisy corsage and a grey felted one and a bag of yellow buttons.

For Andamento I embellished her tote pocket with white buttons and a few beads. I knitted her a neck warmer for her bike rides (you don't want a flappy scarf for such activities) and also made her a lavender bag and a denim corsage.

I have to say that even though I was short of time, I really enjoyed making something for each of these lovely ladies.

I have a new car - do you like it?

Yes - you've guessed it, I am only joking. I missed out on a trip to London on Saturday. I had organised a "Dad & Lad" excursion for the men to go to the MPH show featuring Top Gear Live at Earls Court. I was going to tag along for a lift and had planned to visit Borough Market (for starters!! ) but something cropped up and I had to stay at home. The car above is a Bugatti Veron and is worth approximately 1.8 million and is owned by an Arab Sheik who says he is prepared to sell it. Judging by the number plate, I think he is pitching this at Jenson Button or Lewis Hamilton!! Anyway, the boys had a great day out.

I used up the last of my birthday money in Waterstones last night. I love the Cool Camping books and have stayed at quite a few featured sites. Great browsing for a very rainy and blustery evening.

Batten down the hatches in St Ives Noelle!!

Plan B

Plan A today was for a very long walk across the moors with a pub lunch at the end, however torrential rain and the constant whinging of a 14 year old boy meant that we switched to Plan B.
Plan B involved calling at Woody's on Ecclesall Road in Sheffield for a Full Monty breakfast sandwich and a quick read of the Sunday papers before deciding that the rain had stopped enough for a quick stroll up to the Botanical Gardens.
We parked on Sharrow Vale Road - which is my favorite area in Sheffield - I'll do you a tour before Christmas. It has some of the greatest little shops, charity shops, Cafes, restaurants etc and has quite a villagey feel about it. We called in here for cupcakes to take home for tea.

We then walked via Ecclesall road and called in here for sweets.

They have the most fabulous little room upstairs called the Butterfly Boudoir where you can partake in hot chocolate, cakes, etc.

We then walked through to the recently restored Victorian Botanical Gardens

We wandered through the Pavilions,

where the exotic plants added much needed colour on this grey day.

I admired a mosaic on the wall.

By this time, the sun had actually popped out briefly and illuminated the lovely Autumnal colours.

The grounds house the fine Victorian bear pit. Apparently, this was closed down after a small child fell in and was mauled to death by the bear.

We recreated this most terrible disaster for you using the whinging 14 year old.

Ive said before that blogging makes me look at things in more detail. The statue of Pan in the gardens has some fantastic detailing around it.

Then it was back to spend the afternoon watching my latest Play.com purchase. I hadn't caught this when it was in the cinema and after my recent visit to Versailles, I was interested to watch it. I have to say that it was a delicious feast for the eyes. Beautiful costumes, jewellery, flowers, cakes, colours and scenery. And yes - we ate cake.

Bonfire night

I hate to say this, but I really don't like Bonfire Night. I think this stems from 2 incidents from my childhood that are still crystal clear in my memory.
The first was when I was about 5 years old and I had vomitted big style all over my favorite doll which was a proper Rag Doll called "Snotty Lottie". Try as she may, my mother could not get rid of the smell of the vom from Lottie, and so she thought it would be a great idea to use her as a Guy Folks on the bonfire!! I don't think she got her parenting skills from Spock - I think they were all her making! I'm not still traumatised by the image of my best bedtime buddy going up in smoke - but I still can see her to this day!
A few years later, I (just me on my own) had been invited to sleep over at the home of the "wealthy" branch of the family who were having a bonfire party. My mum kitted me out in a new hand knitted (very itchy - she only ever used cheap wool) pullover, and she treated me to a beautiful pair of brown suede shoes that I couldn't wear until I went to the wealthy cousins house. All was going well. They had a very tasteful "workmans brazier" instead of a fire (I told you they were posh!) and they were cooking potatoes in the fire which were delicious, but then someone lit a firework too close to me and a spark fell on my shoe and burned straight through to my foot. Now I was in pain from this ever so tiny burn, but I felt sick with fear thinking what my mums reaction was going to be to the hole in the brand new shoe. I couldn't sleep that night, and my uncle ended up taking me home - because of the burn, he thought, but it was in fact to get the wrath of my mum over and done with!! Fortunately, I didn't get the blame, but I did have to wear the shoe with its hole in, until it didn't fit me anymore.

When I had kids, I didn't want to transfer my fears onto them, but too many bonfire nights spent with friends/relatives pyromaniac hubby's, and a couple of organised displays that didn't go as well as they should, means that my bonfire nights now are rather tame affairs. We will be holding a Bonfire Barbecue on Sunday (the rain was too torrential last night) and I will make do with watching others fireworks from the relative safety of my garden.

I thought my photo looked slightly like fireworks, but it was actually an attempt to take a picture of the Arc de Triumph whilst crossing the road at twilight. It didn't turn out how I thought it would, but I quite like it.