A few Jaunts

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Wow! It's a whole NINE DAYS since I last blogged! (I feel a confession coming on!) In my defence it has been a rather hectic and full-on nine days, but even so! Right, a quick whizz through some of the things that have been happenin' here-abouts.

The day Kit and Krissie took Beccie to Manchester Airport on her way to Florida for a week it poured down, so Jim and I took the boys to Farmer Fred's, an indoor adventure playground up at Heahcam Lavender. It is HUGE!

                                                     And this slide is very fast!

 It's a lot higher than appears on this photo as well, we didn't think Fraser would venture up to the top but heheh, how silly were we!

 A very popular stopping off place for youngsters, so it was good for us that it was mid-week in term time. We had comfy seats, close enough to keep an eye on them, and Jim made frequent check-ups. We had a pleasant snack lunch and the boys barely stopped to re-fuel! We were there for four hours - I took the quilt to be getting on with, and Jim had the cross-word and a book.

Jim and I headed to Suffolk to Number 1 Son Mike and we celebrated Vickie's birthday in style at a lovely country pub in Laxton. Food quite basic but beautifully cooked, the sun shone, and the gardens were lovely.

The following week we all headed up to Northumberland to stay with Jim's mum and his sister Pam who put us all up for a couple of nights with a bit of a squeeze! We had good-ish weather for our trip to Housteads, the Roman Fort, and both boys had the time of their lives.

                                          I think there's a 6' sheer drop on t'other side!

We also managed to fit in a visit to the Hancocks which is a natural history museum in Newcastle.

Sorry the lighting was awful and my photography skills not up to dealing with it! Dylan was fascinated with everything he saw, and Jim took him into the Planetarium, which he adored, another of his Big Interests!
 The following day they left for Scotland and Jim and I drove home to a very quiet house! We spent a couple of days recharging our batteries and catching up on emails, washing and a bit of tidying. As you can see, the garden is running away with itself.

                                                            Blowsy, frowsy lushness!

                                                             Veggies doing nicely.

Yesterday I drove across to Wymondham to pick up friend Sue K, and we went ot see Cathy from Potter Jotter to collect the items I had commissioned. It transpired that Sue and Cathy knew each other slightly from way back, as they had both sat waiting whilst their young daughters took their ballet classes! Small world! You can imagine we had a good long chat...and not all about quilts or pottery. I was hugely delighted with the pieces Cathy had made for me. Now, I can only show you one of these as the others are a surprise for....well, I'll blog about that another day. But look at my beautiful stem vase..isn't it lovely? EXACTLY as I had wanted it to look.

I love the glazes Cathy uses, and my pot was created just the way I hoped it would turn out. I can't wait to show you the other items she made for me, but you'll have to wait for the next post. Well, here's hoping we all get some more good weather, think of my poor half-drowned Kiwis! See you next time!