A Report from a Camping Virgin

It is NOISY in picturesque Dorset, most of the night with traffic noise and then early morning taken up by animals...cockerel, cow, peacock, dog...you name it. So for a good few nights, I couldn't sleep for the noise.

It rained most of time we were there.  The Purbeck Way looked like a permanent mud slide.

And the cow field we camped in...well, it smelt like cows! On the last night, a highland cattle wondered into our field, I think out of curiosity on her part. This was what she found in the Fire section. The dining shelters have already been packed up at this point.

We had a meal rotation where we dine with a different patrol every night. Before the trip, I worried most about this...I had some Immodium packed.  I shouldn't have...this turned out to be my favourite part of the trip.  The food was ok but I really enjoyed the conversations...the kids were A-MA-ZING! The highlight was when we talked about books and films, with amazing insight from the kids!!!

I opted for sleeping in a tent when the kids slept outdoors on survival night.  Come on, it was only my second night camping, I chickened out. We hiked for 3 days that went WET, DRYish and very WET. I was shattered at the end of the 3 days. I found out that even though I am not used to reading OS maps, I should have trusted my good sense of direction more.

We camped and played in the shadow of this castle. We played a "Lord of the Rings" epic wide game that went on till 3am. Doesn't it make a good Mordor ?

We are woken mostly at 7am (sometimes 6.45, sometimes 7.30) by the bugle and have to make our way into the next field for flag break. This was an exceptional photo though, taken on the last day when we were having a whole-of-troop photo session. Usually, it doesn't involve climbing all over the tree.

I found out that whilst I don't mind the early morning bugle, I don't like camp fires, especially as some goes on late into the night. This was our last campfire being lit, ready for a night of cabaret. This campfire is called the campfire of dreams but that's a story for another day.

What a journey of discovery. Watch out for some camping layouts.

School Trips

My boys never ask to go on school trips which is a blessing in some ways as they can be expensive but H came home last year clutching a form for the Classics' trip to Greece that he was so excited to go to.  Everyone is going so please can I go too ?

I let him go but on the condition...he must take at least 5 photos a day or he would have to contribute towards the cost of the trip. His photos weren't very representative so these are from the common album on the school site.

I did the first layout for a blog post of Sarah's Cards, Love Your Punches. I've recently rediscovered my square punch.

The next one was done for Sketchbook365. I have omitted some of the papers from the sketch and the flowers but I have stayed pretty much to it. I love the Heidi Swapp large lettering on the photo caption...I think you might be seeing more of those pretty soon. Come to think of it, I ought to try making my own loopy title!

He Has Red Hair

Ok, I've made the layout so it is official! 

H has red hair...not a lot but a few strands here and there are pure ginger!  He refuses to admit or believe us, much in the same way that he refuses to accept that he has freckles.  J used to tell his brother that when he turns 13, he is going to turn fully ginger.  The date has come and gone and H still has black hair with a few red.

This layout was made for Sarah's Cards Sketch Challenge for July with a sketch provided by Helen.  Why don't you join us for a chance to win £20 to spend on stash ?

A Tale from the Sports Field

It was Sports Day at school for H yesterday.  Also for the first time, they were competing in their new houses.  H's house came third overall which I thought wasn't bad out of eight houses. I am looking forward to more house competition!

How did he do himself ?  Everyone had to compete in at least one event and by the time H came to pick an event, the only ones left were 1500m and the high jump.  Guess what he picked ?  Yes, high jump. LOL, he said, "I wasn't planning on jumping". He didn't even clear a metre.  His excuse was, the girls were shouting when I was jumping and they put me off. As excuses go, that was pretty lame, wasn't it ?

I did this a few weeks ago to document H's athletic prowess or lack of it. Even though H is not very good at sports, he always come out of a race smiling...I am proud of that. I am playing around with using low contrast patterned paper and embellishment, this time from Crate Paper Pretty Party.

I had to include Olympic in the title so it became "Not an Olympic hopeful".  Are you looking forward to the sporting event of the year ?  No, not Wimbledon but isn't Murray doing well ?. The Olympic! The torch is coming to Cambridge this weekend with some festivities on Saturday night. It is leaving Trinity College early Sunday morning in a scene from Chariots of Fire. I am hoping to catch the torch leaving on a punt.

Sian's Storytelling Sunday - The Story of Us in Stained Glass

Happy Sunday! I usually struggle to get on here on Sunday so this post has been scheduled in advance LOL.

We had a stained glass panel made many years ago. It went into the front door of an Edwardian House. Unfortunately all the original glasses were modernised, a long time before our time! So what do you put on a stained glass panel ? The normal geometric pattern is the obvious choice. We wanted something more pictorial. The ornate painted on story panel you see in churches would be exhorbitant though.

We waited to hear what M would suggest. We told him our story, can he do something by way of a glass panel ? Yes, he said. This is what he made.

The glass panels have been replaced. We opted for geometric up top, plain coloured glass in the side panels and our story in the door. Unfortunately the hallway was not looking too presentable at this stage.

A couple of years later, we repainted the front of the house ( yes, they painted it black and white to modernise it too, the stairs lacquered black... ).

Then a few months later, A had a new job in Peterborough.  What should we do about our story panel ?  We called M back in and he made this.

We moved and took the panels with us.  Two houses later, I finally made a frame for it and now it has been installed in the conservatory. This house is not quite of the age of stained glass but at least it is now somewhere safe as opposed to a box in the garage.

What's the story ?  It depicts books and mortar board for Imperial where A&I met, Empire ( in Leicester Sq ) where A proposed ( class! ), a thistle for Scotland where we married and honeymooned, a river for the Thames that we can see from Guys ( Hospital ) where J was born and a crown for Kings ( Hospital ) where H was born.

Are you storytelling with Sian ?  If not, why not ?  Go over to her blog and read more fantastic stories.