walk no 6 Worthing Seafront

I decided to take my camera with me on a walk along Worthing seafront this morning as it was so nice and bright.  Abit chilly though, look there’s still frost on Marine Gardens

I always have to take a picture of these beach huts!  They are doing a lot of work to the prom, reinstating the cycle route, so that’s workmen stuff in the background.

Then I decided to concentrate on the buildings on the seafront.  Here’s a bit of Heene Terrace:

And the Beach Hotel.  They are due to do some alterations to this building, but I love the 1940s/50s style:

 

I think that little cottage is called the ‘Fisherman’s Cottage’, peeping through the palm tree!

Then I decided to take pictures of the seafront shelters:

And then back up Grand Avenue.  This is Dolphin Lodge at the end of Grand Avenue.  It was originally built as a hotel, but has always been flats.

The ‘new’ bit on the seafront end has this amazing mosaic on the side.  I love the 1960s feel to it!

Here’s one of the Ilex trees of which Grand Avenue is famous for!  I didn’t realise how much this one leaned over until I took this picture!

January 20th

The 3rd prompt for 52in10 challenge is ‘What would you tell your younger self?’

Well, I know what I would say….  Go to university – do NOT take the job as a trainee accountant!  I was 17 when I met Maurice and although it sounds corny, it was love at first sight!  I took my A levels (Maths, Physics and Chemistry) and was applying to university to do Biochemistry.  I even applied and sat entrance exams for Oxford!  But, we decided that we couldn’t live without each other and wanted to get married. 

 

So I  didn’t go to university, I got a job as a trainee accountant.  I qualified as an accountant – and worked in accountancy for 10 years, eventually having my own clients when I had the children.

Well, we have been very happily married for 31 years now, and our children are 18 and 21.  I did go to university- when I was 39, and took a degree in Neuroscience.  (One of my greatest achievements - I got a first!)  I am glad I did go eventually, but it was not the same as going when you are 18.  The children were young, and I didn’t have time or inclination to socialise.  I really enjoyed my degree, and it bought up huge regrets that I didn’t go earlier, and have a career in Science.  It has taken me years to work through the regret, first of all blaming others for not ‘making’ me go (!) and then realising that it was MY decision, and at that time NO ONE would have persuaded me otherwise.  So I guess what I would say would be ‘go and get a science job!’ not ‘go to university!’.  I have absolutely no regrets about getting married, and have had a very happy life!

January 17th

A stroll along Brighton seafront.  It was a lovely afternoon and I invited Mum over for a roast dinner.  We made the effort to go somewhere different with her after dinner.

Walk number 3

I know I am a bit ahead of myself here, but I just had to have some snowy pictures in this series of walks!  We have had snow on the ground for 1 week now – unheard of in these parts!!!  The pavements have been treacherous, and Merlin pulls hard, so walking him has been a nightmare!  I have mostly walked him round to the park, and as it snowed again overnight I thought I would take my camera this morning.  The new snow looks very pretty, but is quite slushy, so will hopefully go soon!  I am fed up with it now….

Stepping out of my front door, the bushes look really pretty.

Turning to walk north up my road

Turn left into Rugby Road

Right into The Drive.  I love these colourful terrace houses!

Left into tarring Road.  That’s the railway line to the right of the picture with the footbridge in the distance

And into West Park

Here’s Merlin eating a snowball that I threw for him!  He has loved the snow!

Just managed to take this one before the battery ran out!

Goals for 2010

This is the second of Scrapdolly’s 52in10 challenge. 

 

Following on from prompt 1 which was about what I achieved in the first decade of the 21st century, it’s time to blog about my goals for this year.

I have a list of scrapbook/photography challenges:

• continue with my 365 project
• this 52in10 project, not sure how yet, so I am blogging the prompts for now.  Might do an 8 x 8 album
• 52 walks.  Easy to take the photos as I am always walking the dog!  And we have already put one Sunday per month as a long dog walk.  What to do with the photos?  Blog them on here and possibly put them in divided page protectors from Arrowfile.
• Scrap weekly in 2010 Hoping to use these prompts in my general scrapbooking!  Maybe a 2010 album?

Otherwise, I am particpating in a goals workshop over on www.simplify101.com.  I absolutely love this site!  So far, I have written down about 60 dreams!  Next week’s lesson is about converting them into goals

I think that if I have to pick 4 goals for 2010:

1. Exercise regularly and eat more healthily
2. Get on top of finances, save some money!
3. Take time for creativity – need to build regular time slots each week
4. Take time for family and friends

Walk number 2

An early morning walk to the beach!

You don’t very often see seaweed all frosty!

What a decade!

Random thought on this decade.  This time 10 years ago we were relieved that the millenium bug hadn’t hit!  All our computers were going to crash!!!  But thanks to the hard work of loads of computer geeks, (including Maurice!!) we were saved!

• I finished my degree
• we got a dog
• Nicholas finished school and went to university
• I started scrapbooking
• I started quilting
• I rekindled my love of photography
• We got the internet!
• We got mobile phones
• We changed our car for the Honda CRV
• My Dad died
• Maurice’s Dad died
• I made new friends through my hobbies
• I tried teacher training, but failed!
• I was a school govenor at West Park and Durrington
• Maurice went on his first motorcycling holiday without me!
• I lost some weight
• I started dying my hair
• Lucy met Tom
• Nicholas met Freya
• Lucy played volleyball and was an England Under 16 champion!
• I started volunteering at the Family Centre and now work there part time
• I started to research my family history and joined the Anglo-Italian family History Society
• Maurice and I both turned 50
• Nicholas entered his 20s
• Lucy entered her teens (and didn’t we know it!!)

 

This is my answer to Scrapdolly’s 1st prompt for the 52in10 challenge for 2010.

 

Now I really must get on and start some housework!

New Year’s Day - walk no 1

I have joined in the ‘52 walks’ challenge.  It shouldn’t be too hard as I am always walking the dog!  But I will try to vary my ‘walks’, that’ll be my challenge!

 

Walk number 1, easy peasy, my favourite local dog walk, over along Ferring Beach.

Park in the car park, through the gate and along the greensward.  It’s lovely because Merlin can be let off the lead straight away, and he can ferret in amongst the verge, run with other dogs along the green, or go down on the beach!

It is a beautiful sunny day, but freezing!  Here’s the frozen puddle, and it was so funny watching Merlin trying to find a piece where the ice was broken to drink the water!

That’s Bognor Regis in the distance!

Merlin having a roll on the grass!

Then back home for a steaming mug of coffee!  And now I have to organise myslef to take the Christmas decorations down and pack them all away:(

5 things I love about December

Christmas cards

Christmas music  How about this one! LOL

 

Visiting Garden centres

Looking at the Christmas lights when walking the dog (photo taken in 2007)

5 things w/e 27th November

 

OOps!  I forgot to pos this on Friday.  Oh well, better late than never eh?

 

seeing:

Seen the first Christmas lights up and lit on a house just round the corner!  I love going for a dog walk in the dark and seeing everyone’s house lit up – just for me to see!

Hearing:

Raia pitter pattering on our bedroom window, thunder in the middle of the night (always sets our doorbell off!) and wind blowing!  Yes, it is STILL horrible weather!

Tasting:

Gorgeous salmon sandwiches and the best cup of tea I have ever tasted at The Tea Cosy (see my other blog for pics)

Smelling:

Garlic!  at the Pomodoro and Mozarella restaurant last night!

 

Feeling:

the enormous effort trying to walk against the wind this morning on Ferring beach

Blog award!

 

Thanks Dorothy!  I have a bog award YAY! 

But now I have to answer all these questions!!  With one word answers!

1. Where is your cell phone? … downstairs

2. Your hair? … short

3. Your mother?… gardner
4. Your father?… dead
5. Your favourite food? … casserole
6. Your dream last night?… wind!
7. Your favourite drink? … wine
8. Your dream/goal?… travel
9. What room are you in?… computer room

10. Your hobby?… scrapbooking
11. Your fear?… snakes
12. Where do you want to be in 6 years?… traveling
13. Where were you last night? … Gilberts
14. Something that you’re aren’t?… athletic
15. Muffins?… no
16. Wish list item? … Porsche 911
17. Where did you grow up? … here
18. Last thing you did?… drink
19. What are you wearing?… fleecy
20. Your TV?… off
21. Your Pets?… Merlin
22. Friends? … not as many as before (oops sorry not 1 word!)
23. Your life?… hectic
24. Your mood?… busy
25. Missing Someone?… dad
26. vehicle?… motorike
27. Something your not wearing?… hat
28. Your favourite store? … craft shop
29. Your favourite colour?… orange
30. When was the last time you laughed?… this morning
31. Last time you cried?… never
32. Your best friend?… don’t have one
33. One place that I go to over and over? … craft club
34. Facebook?… sometimes
35. Favourite place to eat?… Italian

5 things:

A quick post this morning before I go out in the rain and wind with the dog!  And then I have to go to Waitrose for food shopping, which is Ok because I can get 2 hours free parking while i go clothes shopping for new smart black trousers.  Then I am seeing Mum this afternoon. 

Right now I am seeing:

dark, damp, windy weather outside (not too keen to go out there tbh)

Right now I am hearing:

Snow Patrol!  Lucy went to see them on Wednesday night in Brighton and the house has been filled with their songs turned up loud!  I love them!

Also, I have started listening listening to Christmas music, starting with a little Jazz Christmas CD, lovely! 

Radio 2 has been playing Wild Horses by Susan Boyle all week, and it is seriously getting on my nerves!

 

Right now I am smelling:

Some Christmas candles I have bought for a present, boy are they strong! 

 

Right now I am tasting:

My gorgeous lamb casserole!  Well, not quite right now, it’s what I am having later on for tea!

 

Right now I can feel:

My fingers lightly skipping over the keyboard ….. and pressing all the wrong keys!!!

Looking back

I have been keeping this blog since August 2005.  I did write another blog before that but I didn't let anyone see that - it was very private!

So it's easy to look back at what I was doing 1 year ago today.  In fact, I was writing a daily thankyou last November.  On 18th November 2008, I was thankful for my Crawley crop!  They were a really great bunch, and we had a lot of laughs.  But I don’t go to that one anymore.  Instead myself and Burn are going to have a crafty evening in her craft cabin at least once per month!  (In fact, we are going to the craft barn for a class on Saturday with the fabulous Sue Roddis .  So I am looking forward to that.

 

Looking back further:

November 2007 I had just finished taking an online photography course with Cheryl Johnson.  I took Painting with Light, and I have to say it’s a fantastic course and the best of hers that I have done.  I am still doing loads of photography, and tryong to do Project 365 from March 2009 – March 2010.

November 2006 I was doing circle journals, and writing about the music I listen to.  Well, I am still doing circle journals and still listening to music, although my taste has changed a bit!  (Still listening to lots of radio 2 though)

November 2005 I didn’t write anything!!  But I was about to start my first online class: Shimelle’s JYC!!!!

November 14th

2 good things this weekend!  One is the cybercrop over on www.ukscrappers.co.uk, and the other is that Maurice is going to Phoenix tomorrow for a week on business and I have put in orders to 2 scrapbook stores and a quilt shop for him to bring home with him next weekend!  YAY!

Here's a LO that I did this morning for the cybercrop:

It’s another one for Lucy’s 18th birthday album.  Isn’t she cute?  I think this picture really shows her personality!

 

And here’s a sneak preview of a Christmas minibook I made for a swap over on UKs:

learning something new

I have just learnt how to embed a You Tube video WOOHOO!

5 things….

Here’s an idea I got from Shimelle’s class:

 

What am I seeing right now? 

Rain!  It is damp and dreary today.  It is pouring down with rain, and is very dark.. It is forecast to get windy too!

 

What am I listening to right now?

Black Swan Song by Athlete (won’t let me embed it at the moment, so go and find it on You Tube.

 

What am I tasting right now?

Just had a very healthy salad for lunch.  Trying to lose a few lbs before Lucy’s party on 12th December to be able to fit into my LBD!

 

What am smelling right now?

Last thing I noticed the smell of was my friend’s baking this morning when I went for coffee!  Had to have a piece of her warm scone!  MMMMMMM!  (It was only a tiny bit I promise!)

 

What am I feeling right now?

A bit bundled up in warm clothes!

 

What are you seeing, hearing, tasting, smelling, feeling?

December Daily

I completed this book last year – my aim was to document all the things I do to prepare for Christmas.  I really enjoyed doing it, and am really pleased with the end result.  I have just read it again, and it really brings back the essence of the month!

I think I made most of the pages ahead of time, I had some file folders which i used as a template for the covers, then covered them with Christmas paper (Basic Gray in this case).  I tend to stick to one make now for a minibook (my first attempt at JYC used all different papers, and I prefer a more unified look!)  I didn’t take all the pictures at the time, in fact, one or two of them are not even my own, but downloaded off the internet!  Some days I used Shimelle’s JYC prompt if it fitted in with what I wanted to do, or used another day perhaps.

I tried to make my pages of different shapes and sizes.  Some are just the same as the covers, some are torn about half way along, some are different shapes, including a snowflake paper!  I also used acetate for some pages.

So here’s a few pictures:

The front cover has an acetate over the top stamped with white stazon snowflakes.  The white scalloped card is stuck onto the acetate.

Day 1 documents my shopping!  This is not one of my photos but is from the shopping centre website!  On some of the LHS of the pages I tried to use Christmas photos I had taken over the years.

This page is a double page documenting my scrapbook crop’s Christmas party!  That’s me in the silly turkey hat LOL!

I love this page!  IN that envelope is a list of number 1 singles over the years!  I LOVE Christmas music – all sorts, from carols to Slade’s Merry Christmas to Bing Crosby’s White Christmas!

Here’s my snowflake page.  It’s a piece of scrapbook paper that was in the shape of a snowflake cut and half and glued together.  I seem to have written on it upside down!  The RHS is an acetate with the photo stuck on.  When you turn the page to no 14, there is some journaling the same shape as the photo, so it is hidden from view here.

LHS my lounge with the tree and mantelpiece decorated!  RHS, DS Nicholas and his friend.

 

I have included this page to show you how daft we are!  There is a Boxing Day swim in the sea for charity (a lot of seaside resorts in England do it!) Last December we did it in aid off our Dad who sadly died the previous August.  The photo in the middle is of (L-R) my niece, my brother and me.  The bottom photo is off someone pouring warm water over DD Lucy!

Finally, here’s a glimpse of it from the edge so you can see the different sized pages.