Happy Birthday

My son is 18yrs old today, time has passed so fast so we have decided as a family to go to the zoo, something we always did on Birthdays when he was young.
Treasure each day with your little ones, before you know it they are all grown up.

spa day

           I have just had a lovely day  with my daughter at the spa above
it was very relaxing, shame I had to drive home,  the best part of lunch was the pudding, strawberry crumble with honey ice cream very healthy :) In my defence I did drink a lot of water all day.
As it was her day out  click on above link for a bit more info.

I'm very chilled now so will float off to bed and admire my red nails.
 Which won't last long in the garden tomorrow :)

Hope your all having a good week
Cate x

Happy Birthday

Happy Birthday Dad

I don't see my dad very often :(  but I have just found out he can see my blog  :)
 Love you Dad x



 The bear is a Merry Thought Cheeky Bear.  I got him for my 16th Birthday a long time ago.

End of term and a summer sky

I had to show you this lovely cake one of the children gave me today, parents have been so kind sending lots of gifts and cards for the end of term. I,ve had roses, an orchid , a couple of garden plants lots of chocs and biscuits  a bracelet and a bottle of wine so Thank You to all parents out there for taking the time and trouble.


I had a lovely walk yesterday evening and thought you would enjoy seeing these  pics

 Happy Holidays Everyone and Thanks to everyone who commentated on my summer house to be :)   Cate x
                                                                                                          

One Day

 Hi everyone pics as promised.


Here is my poor old summer house I'll call it that because thats what I hope it will be one day. We have started to hack down the ivy but I think this is what's holding the roof together. there is a gaping hole between the two buildings.
Those are ivy roots on the side.

This is the side view, if I close one eye, it can in the right ligh,t look very Country Living  :) I am thinking of getting intouch with someone like that to see if they know of any grants that may be available as it is 1920's and would be such a shame to lose. I wouldn't mind even having an open summer house for charity if I could get something done.
I dream of bunting and seaside colours.

Ah well a girl can dream

cate x

Manchester Tart

Feeling a bit nostaligic and remembering school dinners from the past
I have decided to make an old favourite of mine Manchester Tart.We used to get this once every couple of weeks and it was made in huge trays.


. When I first started to look for the receipe I stumbled across a cookery book called Manchester Tart and other favourites. Another one to add to my collection :)
it's very easy to make, let me know if you decide to try it

6oz Short crust pastry
strawberry jam
2 bananas
1 pint milk
custard poward
dessicated coconut
                                  pre heat oven 190c  Gas  5

 grease 8inch / 20 cm pie dish. Line the tin with pastry making sure it comes up the sides. Prick all over and cover with foil pushing it into the corners. Bake for 20 mins, remove foil and bake for 5 more mins. Leave to cool

Spread jam over the base. Slice bananas and place on top of jam. Then make up a thick custard (about 2 heaped tablespoons of powder to 1 pint of milk) When the custard has cooled a bit pour it over the sliced bananas. Sprinkle with the coconut and leave to cool completely then put in the fridge to set. Serve cold or at room temerature. Enjoy !

I hope you all have a lovely weekend 

               Cate xx

                                                             

 

Didn't we have a lovely time

The day we went to the castle.
we had a soggy morning but we still enjoyed it.
I love the pandas it must takes ages to do.

This is inside the castle not very easy to see, lots of things to try on and have a go at
.We did an Eye Spy trail.

 What about these shoes?, you can just see the over shoes  which were blocks of wood with leather straps across, these kept their shoes clear of the mud and dirt, most had a much thicker sole than these.

The first chemist ?
Attached to the wall outside is a bag of smelly things to try.
Lavender for headaches, cinnamon for coughs and colds, clove for toothache not much has changed really.

The small opening on the right is where all the waste from the toilet came out,
and straight into the moat.

As a Rainbow Guide Leader I had to take this pic, its a shame I can't post any of the others as they are all of the children from school. We had a guided tour with a real knight all dressed up in his armour :) he had them all marching around and storming the castle.
Friday we are having a re-enactment day with a feast and dressing up. I haven't a clue what to dress in, I have even thought of going as the castle ghost (thats how desperate I am) so if you have any easy ideas please let me know its the 14th century not very exciting.
Hope all your veges are enjoying  the rain
bye for now Cate xx

Hampton Court hot hot hot !

We had a couple of hours drive and by default found ourselves at the park and ride venue, the bus sadly doesen't drop you off at Hampton Court but 3/4 mile away (last year we parked next door) so we decided to take the ferry it was well worth it such a cool breeze.

This is the Captain :)



We were only on a short time Im glad it wasen't diy

One of the themes was a Midsummer Nights Dream. The costumes were stunning.

The other theme of the show was to my delight Vintage inspired, I love this shed, at the moment we are renovating our garden shed which was the origanal house in the 20's, I'm hoping one day it will look as good as this. I will post some pics of ours soon.

The fashion show was also 40's 50's 60's inspired

This is a lovely wedding table everything just went so well together.

diy cake stand it look s like this lady can't make her mind up well they did want £28

These brollies were lovely and yes they were also £28

Lots of wonderful flowers the perfune from the roses was mmmmm divine.

          A liitle bit of nostalgia










 





Some shabby chic

lot of petals make up this glove

Giant vegetables and funny faced sunflowers                                                              

and finally I treated myself to a metel thingy with bells

We had such a good day, the weather was so hot and the ground very dusty, we both looked like we had been dragged through a hedge backwards. I couldn't believe how dirty my feet were when we got back home.We ended up doing a bit of a detour home, for some reason we always end up on a different road, but as all great explorers we managed to get back ok. My battery ran out half way through the day so there should have been more pics, my lovely hubby bought me a camera as a suprise, but i didn't charge it up enough.

So there you are another year over, I hope you enjoyed the pics, oh and I did buy a few plants, pity you couldn't see us trying to get on the ferry with them :) Hope you all had a lovely weekend, I'm of to Colchester Castle tomorrow with my class (yes more pics) bye for now

CATE XXX     

  

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Hampton Court

 I'm really looking forward to Saturday, the flower show is such a good day out, my friend and I have been going to it for a few years now.We take lunch with us so we don't have to stand around waiting and wasting time.
We usually manage a few samples along the way, funny how a tiny glass of wine goes straight to your head before lunch :)

The country Living marquee is always packed with people and lovely things to buy,and for some reason we always end up trying on hats, those lovely big ones that look like sofa fabric but  at £45 thats all we do, look.

You have to cross a pontoon to get to the marquees the next few pics are from google.

                                                                                                                      




shopping

      Just a few pics for now
  I am hoping to borrow a camera for saturday as mine has well and truly had it : (


 Here's hoping for good weather.
I'm off to bed now as I have an exam tomorrow one of the reasons I'm doing this, a bit of distraction : )

bye for now enjoy the rest of the week everyone I have enjoyed reading your blogs.
Cate x