a step into spring

Daylight Saving Time happens this weekend.  One hour less sleep (added to all the other hours sleep I've lost this week!) and one step closer to Spring.  Sunshine, filling the planters with flowers, open windows and doors and a fresh breeze.  This afternoon (after a week of what felt like a monsoon), the sun shone, and Ruby and I had lunch sitting outside on the deck in the sunshine!  Shock!  Blue sky and actually removing a cardigan as it was warm.  Long may it continue.

Today has been a day of household maintenance - furnace (boiler) service and replacing filters, central vacuum service (filled with pine needles from Christmas trees of past!), replacing 4 light bulbs (why did 3 die in the past two days!).  Lots of things checked off the mental List.  And one reason for my lack of sleep last night was that at 4.30am the battery in the gas / carbonmonoxide detector decided to give up and beeped for the next few hours!  The only way to reach it was to get a ladder from the garage, and at 4.30am I just buried my head under the duvet and tried my best to get some more sleep!   So a new battery was installed and I'm hoping tonight will be restful!

This weekend the Huzz returns from a 7 day trip.  Ruby has made him (another) welcome home card!  A birthday party and a little garden work are planned.  And that's just about it.  Nice.

Happy Springlike Weekend.

a new week rolls around

I hope you had a great weekend.

I took the kiddos to see The Lego Movie, which they loved.  I had a little nap in the middle of the movie, but then I seem to do that during most kids movies at the cinema these days!  The kids came home inspired to get to work on their Lego mountain (thankfully) and a new city is being resurrected as I blog!  Everything is Awesome!!!

We also went to my son's drum teacher's home to hear him and 3 other musicians (piano, saxaphone, bass) put on a little jazz concernt.  Wow!  So impressed by their skill and love for music and how they instinctively moved from one piece of music to the next from memory of years and years playing.  Ruby's comment was "Why do they have their eyes closed when they play?"She has been asking to take violin classes (eek - I believe I will have headphones on permanently for the next few years with the violin and Luca's drumming).

I'm longing for spring now. Last weekend we had sunshine and blue skies on a day at the coast.  And now this weekend (and the whole week ahead it seems) its rain rain and more rain.  I have these new Adidas Dragons that I want to wear all the time (but not in the rain) but it looks like the Hunters are going to be my footwear of choice this week.

The Huzz is the pancake maker in our house.  A stack of fluffy American style pancakes graces the breakfast table most Sunday mornings.  He is travelling this week, and so it will be up to me to rustle up pancakes for Shrove Tuesday / Mardi Gras / Pancake Day.  American style pancakes I love with maple syrup.  But the large thin pancakes I had as a child, I will always have with a squeeze of lemon juice and a sprinkle of sugar.  Delicious!

via Pinterest

Here's a couple of links to start your week with.

10 Things You Must Have in Your Home by the Age of 30! - Well, I'm past 30 and I'm short on a couple of these must haves!    How about you?

What your Starbucks drinks says about you! - I'm a regular 12oz, 2% milk, latte drinker all year until the Pumpkin Space latte arrives and that's all I'm about!  What's your coffee fave?

Hope its a good one for you.

friday morning here

Friday morning here.

One child off to school on his bike, wrapped up on this chilly frosty morning.
And (would you believe it!) there was no dicussion about wearing something warm today! 

One child home on her day off, lazing around watching a movie before swim lessons.

Husband travelling with work (counting the days!)

Slight distraction now…
Mmmmmm!   How delicious does this churros with melted chocolate look!!

Dog walked and now he's lazing around.

House quiet.   Reading blogs.  Drinking coffee.

Sun shining and blue sky and chilly chilly chilly.   An extra layer will be needed today.

Trying to make lists lists and more lists for 

Thanksgiving, drinks party, son's birthday / party, Christmas.
Parties on my mind.

Thinking about big rings and possibly adding one to my Christmas Wish List!

H A P P Y   W E E K E N D I N G !

Loving ...

Some images that caught my eye this week …

Oh how pretty is this lace.  I'd love to see the whole dress.

Love the mix of black and brown leather.

I'd love to use this idea for place setting at a dinner table. Simple, aromatic and stylish.

Vanilla Bean Creme Brûlée.   Mmmmm.

Something on my To Do list for this Fall.

Love the colour of this velvet jacket.

I have a black velvet jacket that has really seen better days

and this would be a fabulous replacement.

We have a VAST shell collection from all our travels.

Our suitcases always come home with lovely specimens

we've spent hours trawling along beaches looking for.

This photograph inspires me to sort and photograph them.

H A P P Y   W E E K E N D I N G

friday again? seriously!

Another week gone by in a flash and here I find myself looking at my last post from a week back!  Bad Blogger!

We've had sunny days this week, with mid-October temperatures reaching 74 degrees! Sitting have my mid-morning coffee outside on the deck with not a cloud in the sky was a moment to cherish. But today it all changed, and the dampness that is usually so familiar this time of year is back.  True Fall weather around here.

This weekend brings us a mixed bag of activities.  The first Halloween party at my son's school (Zombie Cowboy costume with copious amounts of fake blood ready and waiting for him, and sparkling Princess Butterfly for my daughter!) - one extreme to another.

The Huzz will be taking a croissant making course at Sur La Table in Portland on Saturday morning.  How lucky will I be when he's making fresh croissants on Sunday mornings?  Can't wait for that delicious buttery smell to drift from the kitchen.  He is turning into a quite the fabulous baker (you can see his wonderful bread here).

Ruby and I are off to see Disney on Ice - Rocking Everafter on Saturday afternoon.  She is already overspilling with excitement and counting the hours.  I see more requests for Princess themed dressing up costumes on the horizon.

The Huzz and Luca are off on a mushroom hunting trip early on Sunday morning.  I'm looking forward to a basketful of chanterelles coming home and a delicious mushroom risotto Sunday evening.

And that's our weekend plans all wrapped up.

Hope you have a wonderful weekend, whatever your plans may be.

H A P P Y   W E E K E N D I N G.

weekending

Hooray for the weekend.  We are being spoilt with glorious sunshine and blue skies, a chill in the air and leaves turning the most amazing colours, and the forecast is that way for the next week.  Love it.

The Huzz and I sneaked a midweek morning date in this week.  First breakfast at an old favourite cafe / bar and then two hours wandering the Portland Japanese Garden for a little photography.  The colours are amazing  in the Fall and if you get an early start, the mist is gradually lifting as the sun beams through the leaves.  Stunning.  Lucky us. We need to do these dates more often.

Japanese Garden images by me.

This Saturday evening the Huzz and I will dining out with friends at the Portland restaurant 'Beast'.  It should be a meal to remember - 6 courses with accompanying wines at each course!   Long table with other diners we've not met and and 2.5 hour feast!  I'll report back....

We seem to be doing pretty well and checking stuff off the 'To Do' list lately.   The 'Done' list is looking longer than the 'To Do' which is always nice and makes my shoulders feel a little lighter.

After last weekend's busyness, I asked myself "What happened to those lazy Sundays with lie-ins, walks, reading the bumper Sunday newspapers on the sofa and really relaxing?  Do you remember those?  Hopefully there are a few on the horizon with the winter months ahead.

Anyhow, this Sunday a potential drive over to the coast has been discussed, and that could suit me perfectly.  Gotta make the most of the best Fall weather and a walk on the beach, dog and kiddos burning off some energy outdoors.  It will be just the ticket after that 6 course dinner on Saturday!

Happy Weekending.

X X X

up up and away

We started the weekend with a visit to the Oregon International Airshow.

Friday was the opening evening.  On a gorgeous sunny day, the blue sky was a perfect backdrop to the amazing flying skills of the pilots and their magnificent planes.  Incredible speeds and displays, stunts, parachutes, the Patriots, the US Armed Forces, and at the end of the evening a fabulous fireworks display.  The whole evening was filled with Ooooohs and Ahhhhhs!

Luca loved talking to all the super patient, polite and highly knowledgeable armed forces members, who answered his every question (and hundreds of similar ones for excited boys) and let him climb into tanks and hold their artillery.

Here's a few of my favourite photographs taken by the Huzz of those magnificent men and women in their flying machines.

Chocks Away!

the start of summer

This first week of summer vacation has been nicely busy.  Seems I'm not the only one, as so many of my favourite bloggers have been MIA too - getting into the swing of the first week of summer vacation (and children 24/7), winding up of the school year with so many fun activities for kids and parents at schools, or off on vacations to all corners of the world.

We've had a mixed bag of lazy mornings, swimming, zoo, judo classes, icecreams, parks and playing with friends.  We also squeezed in a visit to the dentist and haircut too just to make sure we're looking good and don't have any toothy problems on our summer travels!

In between all the fun stuff, we keep a little 'school work' going so that everything they learnt in the past year isn't completely forgotten over the next 3 months vacation.  My son (age 10) he has thirty minutes each day of either math[s] practice or 4 pages from the Summer bridge the gap from 4th to 5th grade workbook, plus 1 hour of reading.   My Ruby (age 4) practices her letters, numbers, spelling and learning to read.  So far so good - without too much face pulling or moaning that I am a mean mama!

This is what our days have looked like so far ...

Wishing you a wonderful weekend.

X X X

friday on my mind

Ahhh the weekend.  Big sigh then a big cheer!   It's a question so often asked during the week by my little Ruby "Is it the weekend yet?".  Well, now it is and we love it.

This one promises us blue skies, no clouds and temperatures reaching 84 degrees C (29 degrees F).  Whoop Whoop!

A friend is hosting a rather big party on Saturday evening - the acceptances have grown and grown!  So she's delighted that we will be overspilling into the garden to enjoy the warm evening, with Mint Julep's being the cocktail for the night (Kentucky Derby style so I'm told!).  It promised to be a fun evening!  So looking forward.

Mint Julep

4 fresh mint (spearmint preferrably) sprigs

2 1/2 oz Bourbon

1 tsp powdered sugar

2 tsp water

Muddle mint leaves, powdered sugar and water in a glass.

Fill the glass with shaved or crushed ice.

Add Bourbon.

Top with more ice and mint to garnish.

Serve in a traditional silver or pewter cup if you have one

or just an old-fashioned or highball glass.

Pop a straw in.

Enjoy!

Hope you have a fabulous weekend.

UK family and friends - enjoy your long bank holiday weekend too.

hooray for the weekend

Hooray for the weekend.  A weekend with very little planned (read 'big happy sigh').   Sometimes no plans are the best plans.

The Huzz will be baking at least 6 loaves of his fabulous sourdough bread.  We have jars of sourdough starters lined up in our fridge!  The kitchen will be a hive of busyness and clouds of flour.  The result is most definitely worth the mess he creates!

I'll be wearing my new pink gingham shirt that I bought yesterday.

A little brightness for spring.

And Ruby and I made this batch of delicious Jamie Oliver recipe Flapjacks this afternoon.

Perfect with a cup of tea on a Saturday afternoon.

Hope you have a wonderful weekend.

X X X

weekend cake

It's always nice to have a cake around at the weekend.  A Saturday afternoon slice with a cup of tea after spending the morning watching by boy playing rugby or judo.  Sunday late morning after a long walk with Harvey the hound through the forest.  And, well, it's just nice to have a cake.

As a child, I remember that we would have little Fondant Fancies on Sunday evening, or Angel Cake or Battenburg Cake.   Now favourites in our house are the Nigella Lawson Buttermilk Birthday Cake (definitely not just for birthdays!), Sophie Dahl's Banana Bread (nothing beats a warm slice of this), a really moist carrot cake (the best I've ever had was a recipe from the Magnolia Bakery).  And anything with a little zesty lemon taste is always a winner with me.

  

All images via Pinterest

Hope you find time for a slice of your favourite this weekend.

X

spring zing

What a fabulous sunny day we are having - 2 in a row - whoop whoop!

I really feel like I have a spring in my step.  Yesterday a lady stopped her car by me as I was walking along.  "Excuse me.  I wanted to tell you that you look really lovely".  Seriously!  That lady really made my day.  Seems that a little sunshine makes the world a much happier place.

So my thoughts have been turning to a little spring zing in the house.  I recently purchased these lovely cushions which are now adding a splash of sunshine to the living room.

Windows and doors are flung open today.  I love getting a fresh breeze through the house (although I can now see how much the windows need a good clean!).  

And these goreous yellow mini-chrysanthemums are sitting in the kitchen.

Hope you have a bright and sunny weekend, whatever you may be up to.

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