Zoo Visit

As I said on Thursday we visited the Zoo last week. Well I needed to get a photo for the Scavenger Hunt - what better excuse was there. Here are some of the photos

But as we didn't get to see the Pandas close up we shall just have to go again sometime.

I loved watching the Penguins, and we took lots of photos of them. What is your favourite zoo animal?

Scavenger Hunt

Here are a few more items for the Scavenger Hunt

11. An animal in a zoo - well it has to be my little glimpse of the Giant Panda at Edinburgh Zoo. This is the female that they are waiting to see if she is going to have a baby soon.

 14. A stained glass object or a mosaic

 17. Candle - found these cute owl candles in the garden centre

Bonus item (or substitute) - a person wearing an outfit that symbolizes your country - what else but a piper. 

It is not long till the Hunt finishes and I still have 5 items to get. Better get out and about with my camera!

Learn Something New 2013

Its almost September again so it must be time for Shimelle's Learn Something New every day class. You can read about on her blog here. I did the first LSN but surely it can't be 7 years ago now. I went checking on my blog and I only started blogging in 2007 so that was after the first class. The first year was about the only time I actually completed the whole class I think - I must go check out my mini books to see.

I was wondering this year about trying to do the class using blog entries,  as I know that there is no way I will complete an actual scrapbooking project every day (and I have so many unfinished projects needing my attention). I might try and take a photo each day to link in with the theme - still pondering this one.

What about you - are you joining in this year? Have you joined in in the past?

Little Details

It's Thursday so it must be time for a Little Detail. Pop over to Carolyn and see some other photos.

This week we went to Edinburgh Zoo hoping to see the Giant Pandas. Unfortunately they were not playing and this was the only little glimpse that we got of them.

We did get to see lots of other animals though and I will post some of them over the weekend.

A Coffee?

Do you have time for a coffee? Abi has a monthly meme - you can check out others posts.

Anyway I would ask you round for a coffee as the summer draws to a close. We would drink tea and nibble on biscuits (or cake). I would have a brief moan about how I really shouldn't be eating cake as I am trying to lose weight with Weightwatchers and not doing too good.

We would chat about our summers - I would say that I have enjoyed my summer, our holidays were good this year unbelievable weather and that I do feel relaxed after the stresses of the past year. I would tell you that there are have two birthdays so far this month, mine and my younger son, both of which were good.

I would say that my eldest son is getting ready to go back to University next weekend for his second year. We would talk about our hopes and fears for our children - I would say that his first year has been a good one and that I hope his second will be too. I would also say that I really hope he exerts himself and manages to find a part-time job this year, after being unsuccessful in finding one over the summer holidays. I would say that Andrew seems to have settled back into school fine.

We would wonder what the Autumn session will bring us in our family lives and what new craft things we want to do over the next few months.

Then sadly it would time to go with the promise of meeting up again soon.

Little Details

Carolyn has a weekly meme about Little Details. I took this photo on holiday, we are just about finished using the photos I took on holiday I think. I  really like the shape of the rock.

Why not pop over and check out some other photos.

Scavenger Hunt

Some more photos for Rinda's Scavenger Hunt

3. City Hall - the City Chambers in Edinburgh

 18. A local coffee shop - this is where we go when Andrew visits the Games Workshop

Just to prove that the chocolate cake is indeed good!

2. Theatre for peforming arts - well you can take your pick at the moment in Edinburgh as many different types of venues have been turned into theatres for the Fringe.

 Not in the Scavenger Hunt, but we finished our trip into town on Saturday with a visit to the Book Festival, which is also on at this time.

Live long..

If you can finish that sentence then you are obviously a Star Trek fan, just like my youngest son, who turned 14 today. So when asked what kind of cake he would like this year wanted something from Star Trek. Having discarded many of his wilder suggestions we settled for this simpler (and easier) cake.

Some mean Aunties thought that a 14 year old boy should start eating salad!

when of course he would prefer to have cake!

His presents this year were either Star Trek - he got both the next seasons of Enterprise and the original series that he wanted, and Warhammer!!

Happy Birthday to Andrew!

Summer Reading

The summer is a time for reading, although I don't really seem to have managed to read that many books this year yet. Our book club chooses two books to read over the summer, this year is was Raven Black by Ann Cleeves and Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn.

So far I have only read the first

Raven Black is the first in the Shetland Quartet Series, which has been on the TV, but I never saw it. It is a crime book, which is not what I would normally read, but I did actually enjoy it. It is set in Shetland in January and a body is found in the snow. Suspicion falls on one man a loner Magnus Tait, but not surprisingly it is not him that murdered the girl. I won't spoil it for you. It was a nice easy read and I would probably read the rest in the series now.

I have just started to read Gone Girl so haven't really got into it properly yet.

The other book I read over the summer was 

I do like Sophie Kinsella's books - they are a nice light holiday read and this one is the same.Poppy loses her engagement ring, finds a phone in a bin, starts a conversation with Sam, the owner of the phone, which leads to ...  well I am not going to tell you, you will have to read the book. An enjoyable read.

What have you read over the summer?

 

Little Details

Carolyn has a weekly meme on a Thursday for Little Details. My offering is this week is a padlocked gate taken when we were at Lindisfarne Priory on holiday.

Why not join in with the fun and look for some little details in your life.

The Snow Child - Book Review

I have just realised I never got round to posting my review of this book that I read a while ago for my Book Club.

I really enjoyed this book. It is a bit like a fairytale, indeed it is based on a Russian fairytale, and you have to read it like that and not try and delve too deeply into it. It is set in Alaska in the 1920s, Jack and Mabel have just moved there for a fresh start in a remote homestead. The land is harsh and they are haunted by the loss of a baby many years ago. After they make a snow child a little girl appears in their lives, but only in the winter never the summer. The child seems to help them adjust to their surroundings and to find happiness again. But with all good books there is a bit of  a twist at the end - but I will not spoil that, you will have to read the book.

I would definately recommend this book.

Lindisfarne

When on holiday we went over to Holy Island and visited the Lindisfarne Priory. You can only cross the Causeway at low tide, so have to be careful. We have been before but it was good to go again.

And of course we brought home a bottle of Lindisfarne Mead, which is lovely.

Little Details

Carolyn has a weekly meme called Messy Little Details. My photo for this week was taken on one of our walks along the beach on holiday. I like the tangled mess of the seaweed on the beach.

Why not pop over and see what others have posted?

Summer of Colour Round-up

Here are my 6 pages for the 2013 Summer of Colour challenge. I am pleased that I have actually finished a challenge. My favourite colour combination is number 5, although I do like the effect of number 4. The one I like least is the last one.

What about you - which is your favourite?

That is Summer of Colour finished for this year but put the date in the diary for next year

Summer of Colour Weeks 5 & 6

Now I'm back from my hols I am catching up with some unfinished summer projects. The first is Summer of Colour , The colours for week 5 were Candy Apple Red and Yellow. I used Inktense Colour Blocks for the background and then again used images from napkins.

Week 6 (and the last week) was Sage and Sepia, I used Distress Inks for the backgrounds (although the colours don't really show up very well in this photo) and more images from napkins.

Tomorrow I will post a photo of all six weeks for 2013 Summer of Colour.

Little Details

Joining in with Carolyn again with a Little Detail. This was part of a fence at Keswick and I really liked the the detail.