Return visit to Craven Arms

Thelma's recovery from her knee surgery is going well so we ventured out for a gentle stroll back to Craven Arms and what a glorious day did we choose to do this. The sky was blue and the sun shone all day and guess who forgot to put sunscreen on again!

The day started off well with the sighting our a resting heron who we managed to catch in flight as well.

Our first Geocache was Sunday Best (GCH8M6) a lovely little cache following the track people used to take to get to church many years ago. All I can say was the church floor must have been very muddy!

Then came View Edge (GC10563) and what a wonderful view it was. We then walked back through Sallow Coppice where we had found some caches last time and a new one had been placed there called Fifty Fifty (GC1E94G) - to commemorate 50 years of the Shropshire Way. The owner had placed 10 Shropshire Ways coins in here for the finders to activate - but they had all gone by the time we visited. We then came back into the town and found a sneaky cache hidden in a stile (Craven Arms Crossroads in Time - Flying in Stile GC13EG5) and Mollie thought it was fun to attack me just as the shutter went off.

so Thelma had to separate us. We then ventured on to Halford along the river bank. This lovely view of the weir and the working water wheel are lovely but the cache (Craven Arms Crossroads in Time - Wheels and Weirs GC13EV) was in the church yard - on the other side of the river!! so we had to retrace our steps.

It was worth it as these lovely horses were in the field next to the church. Unfortunately this detour made us a bit late and when we wanted to return into Craven Arms found the field full of bulls (it is a public footpath!) so we had to take the long way round to get back back to the car.Thelma's knee held up very well as the walks were not strenuous but it was certainly aching afterward.

Jess has passed her driving test!!

Yes our very clever girl passed first time - we are so pleased for her. I must say that I was not convinced that she was going to do it because despite our driving practice all Summer, she still had not really got to grips with her manoeuvres - but in her test she did a bay park and reversing around a corner perfectly. She said she had a lovely lady examiner.

Steven took her to her test as she did it in her own car and he said it was so nerve wracking waiting for her - his stomach was so churned up - that it was worse than when he went for his driving test many years ago.

It has worked out so well , as she goes back to Norwich tomorrow and starts her placement (forensic OT) which is based on a business park on the outskirts of the city which you need to be able to drive to. If she had not passed she would have had to do the journey on her bike and resit her test in Norwich - which is a much busier city than Shrewsbury and she does not really know the roads. Aaron is going to take her around some of the places she needs to know over the next few days. I will drive most of the way there in her car and let her drive from Elevden Forrest - which is about 40 mins away from Norwich and no more motorways are involved. Steven will follow us in our car so that I can get back home!

Here is the little Me to You bear we got in anticipation of this event - she loved him. I think we had better fill her car up with petrol when we arrive in Norwich as well. Oh it has been an expensive summer!

So that's 2 out of 4 children driving now. Eleanor finishes her PhD in January and may be coming home so its time she learnt to drive as she is 24 and then the baby will be 17 next summer and we will have to get him going - though as he is a boy I may make him wait until he is a bit more mature. Ross was 21 and Jess is 20.
So the outcome of my lack of creativity all Summer - because I have been out driving with Jess all the time has been worth it - lets hope normal service will resume shortly!

Ellesmere canal festival

Today, Steven, Jessica, Liam and me went to admire all the barges at Ellesmere canal festival. We had a lovely afternoon and it did not rain! We have been to the Meres there many times but never to the canal.There were lots of barges on show, all beautifully decorated - some in traditional barge fashion and others in more modern attire. There was a visual history of a barge they have rescued and restored callled Saturn which was very interesting.The area surrounding the canal head, was rather run down - an old factory had been demolished around it - but there were big plans posted showing the planned redevelopment, which is going to be lovely and revitalise the area. There are houses and flats planned along side the canal - I want a house here as well now!The day was made even even better because Liam wanted to come with us without being forced. He wanted to spend some time with Jess as it was her last outing before we drive her back to Norwich on Tuesday.They get on so well together its lovely to watch them out and about.And because he was in such a good mood he even agreed to have his photo taken with me - unheard of!!

This canal is part of the Llangollen canal, part of which which Steven and I walked along a few weeks ago. They had some photographs of some locks along it which we have never seen, so we are going to look into trying some more walks along canals.

cupcakes!

I have been experimenting with making & decorating cupcakes lately.

I have got the recipe for the cakes off to a fine art now - a 4 egg sponge mixture fills 24 muffin cases and makes nice big cakes. The frosting has been a bit more difficult - the first batch was just plain butter icing but that was too firm to pipe out. This next batch - photoed - was a bit better but a bit too runny so did not keep the shape of the swirls properly.

The final batch was best and made with 8 oz icing sugar, 4oz marg, 1 teaspoon vanilla essence and just 1 teaspoon hot water. I now need to experiment with different colours for the icing. Lakeland have got some colouring gels so I think I will buy some of those when I am next in town.

The cupcakes have gone down a treat and nobody complaining about batch after batch appearing in the kitchen.

the first Gran canaria layout

Jessica and her friends are the sweetest girls you could ever wish to meet - so when I saw these photos of them with their hoods up on the flight going on holiday (apparently the plane was really cold) I had a chuckle and thought how un-hoodie-like these girls are - so I just had to use them to make a lovely layout - so a nice quick and easy one today.

Card stock is Bazzill, PP : October afternoon : country fair - cotton candy. The rest is all Love Elsie - Toby. N0. 84 in my 104 target for the year.

Just read on Elsie's blog today that she has resigned from KI Memories, so no more Love Elsie - I had better stock up on the ranges I have not got - though that might have to wait until next month as I am broke now as I had to get a new passport today - £72 + £7 checking fee + £7 photos from Jessops = £86!! Just think how much stash I could have got for that.

Actually have just had a samll stash purchase recently - these Buzz & Bloom Chipboard journalling blocks. They look fab on their blog - hope I can make them look just as good.

Liam has had his second day at 6th form college and it seems to be going well so far - well apart from being late both days! A friend's daughter is in his form and is very keen to snitch on any thing he gets up to - at least I might find out what he gets up to now. He refused any new term photos though - I must say that he did look gorgeous so its a shame there is no record of it.

milano Aqua paradise

I have scrapped at last! Jess came back from Gran Canaria this week with a loads of new photos so thought I had better do a layout with photos of her Milan holiday first! This double layout shows the fun she & Aaron had at the water park.

Its an ok layout. I am disappointed in that I wanted to make the title Italian and use Milano and Aqua paradisium. but I only had scraps of the alphas to use so did not have enough letters to make the title as I really wanted it - so it is a boring English title. I decided to follow a Becky Fleck page map for this layout- but as usual - this final work looks nothing like the page map!

Cardstock is from DCWV pastel stack, PP - urban lily: doodle daisy, alphas - making memories flocked Velvet and doodlebug designs: all mixed up white rub ons. Journalling stickers : American Crafts. Ribbon, stickles glitter glue. Flip flop brads - Lakeland.

This is the original page map I tried to follow - I always worry when my final layout looks so different from the sketch I should have been following - because the original had some design element thrown into it - whereas mine is just a mish mash of putting things were they can go without much design element to it - which is why they never look as good as the experts ones.

No longer barking up the wrong tree!

A little bit cryptic I know - but this is the name of the geocache (GCZEXP) we could not find along the Aberystwyth coastal path in the summer. Well it had actually gone missing and the owner replaced it last week, so we felt secure enough to make a return journey and today we found it!! It is only a titchy thing but it has driven us mad!

We were back in Aberystwyth because Steven could not get the idea of owning a caravan at Clarach Bay out of his head- so he wanted to go back and have another look. He is even more keen now, but there were no caravans available on the site we preferred so this purchase is on hold for a while - thank goodness as I am still waiting for some news on the kitchen front- he seems to think that I can make do with the rotten pile of junk that is our so called present one! I am not a happy bunny!

We has a good old stroll around Aberystwyth exploring new places, which all looked lovely even on a cloudy day!

This is the harbour and I would much prefer to own a flat here rather than a caravan - but I think they would be way out of our price range!

The castle was lovely - lots of old ruins. The children would have had fun here when they were little - running around them all.

The University buildings on the sea front are architecturally beautiful - but the coastal weather has not done the buildings any favours - it needs quite a lot of maintenance now.

We had a drink and a cake at the cafe on top of Constitutional Hill again. My cake was a toffee tray bake and it was gorgeous, so I am off to Google for a recipe to make one now.