Tomato

Here are my very first home-grown tomatoes and they tasted delicious. This is the first year I have tried to grow tomatoes and these are my very first ones. There are still quite a few left on the plants just waiting to go red.

My Freedom Prompt 21 was: Do you prefer to scrapbook with single photos or a group of photos? - The answer is really both! Sometimes I like to use just one photos on a page and sometimes I like to use lots of photos that are related, it really just depends on the photos themselves and what mood I am in at the time.

My Freedom Prompt 19

Thanks for your comments on yesterday Teenage Idol girls - giving my age away a bit here though - for those of you who have never heard of Sacha- Sacha Distel (born Sacha Alexandre; January 29, 1933 – July 22, 2004), was a French singer who had hits such as a cover version of the Academy Award winning "Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head" (originally recorded by B.J. Thomas), "Scoubidou" and "The Good Life". He was born in Paris. So sorry to all you younger girls you dont know what you missed!

Todays prompt was: What do you do when you don't feel very creative or feel like you've hit a creative block? Share a few tips that help you get back to yourself.

Well my first thought just had to be - a bottle of wine and a large bar of chocolate!
More seriously I often just leave a LO lying out and then go back to it later. Or if inspiration is really lacking then I would look at a book or have a browse online somewhere. At the moment I am working my way (slowly) though Elsie Flannagan's 52 Scrapping Challenges.

Teenage Idol

Todays blog prompt for My Freedom was: Who was your personal favourite teeny-bopper pin-up?

Well I have to admit that I had a rather large poster on my wall of Sacha Distel, the French singer! I even managed to go and see him in concert at Glasgow and had quite a few of his records.

My Freedom Blog Prompts

I have managed to print out all the prompts for My Freedom class that I have missed when away on holiday - now to read them and play catch up. I still haven't decided what size of album to go for, although I really fancy trying something different, possibly 11 x 8.5, will need to decide that today - my target for today.

I dont think I will even try to play catch up with all the blog prompts that I missed, but hope to carry on doing them from now on (although you never know, there might be one or two I really like).

Prompt 17 was What's your favourite reading material? Like the kind of favourite that you would take if you had to cut off the rest of the world for years and years?

I love reading and our house is filled with books. I like reading most types of fiction with the exception of Murder Mystery Thriller type books, never really got into them. I have recently finished Jodi Piccoult Nineteen Minutes and really enjoyed it, although I still think her best was My Sisters Keeper. I managed to finish one of the books I took on holiday with me - Prisoner of Tehran - it was quite interesting. Another excellent book I read not too long ago was The Island by Victoria Hislop, it was great.

I am currently reading the other one I took on holiday by Mark Haddon (the name escapes me at the moment - see post further down).

Prompt Five - The Hare and the Tortoise!

Todays blog prompt was to talk about how you prefer the pace of life? I think I would like life to slow down a bit - there never seems to be enough hours in the day to do all that I have to/want to do. I also find the year passing a lot quicker now than it used to (at least that is how it seems). I have recently stopped working which is supposed to give me more time to do things around the house and to study, we shall see!!!

I am also very very impatient and want things to happen quickly. Whenever we have made a decision about something I then want it to happen right away - and that is just not what is happening at the moment! I really need to work on my patience.

I am also very much a last minute person and no matter how long I actually have to do a project I am generally found running at the last minute. For example we are going on holiday tomorrow and I am packed yet? No not yet - but at least all the clothes are looked out and lying on the bed. I generally get there in the end though.!

Prompt Four

Prompt Four from Shimelle was to blog about a poem that has inspired you or means something to you. Again I found this a tricky one as I dont really know a lot of poems, or at least I can never remember them! I did a google search and found this one that seemed to speak to me

Sound of the Sea by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

The sea awoke at midnight from its sleep,

And round the pebbly beaches far and wide

I heard the first wave of the rising tide

Rush onward with uninterrupted sweep;

A voice out of the silence of the deep,

A sound mysteriously multiplied

As of a cataract from the mountain's side,

Or roar of winds upon a wooded steep.

So comes to us at times, from the unknown

And inaccessible solitudes of being,

The rushing of the sea-tides of the soul;

And inspirations, that we deem our own,

Are some divine of foreshadowing and foreseeing

Of things beyond our reason or control.

I love just sitting watching the waves crashing over rocks or breaking on a beach, so this poem seemed appropriate. Perhaps I should try reading more poetry sometimes, when I get the time!

Prompt Three

Today's blog prompt was about Travel, what is essential for travelling. Well I don't travel light, I can never decide what to take with me and how do I know what the weather is going to be like! Especially as we generally holiday in Britain. I really dont know how people manage to take only a few things away with them. I tend to fill the car.


I do always have to have a book (or two) with me and often take some cross stitch with me, which does sometimes come back without being done!!! This year I am taking my crochet and knitting with me and I will do it - I promise - photos on my return.

These are the two books I am taking with me this year.

Prompt Two

Prompt two for Shimelle's My Freedom class was to say what period in time you would like to go and visit for a day. I found this a really difficult question to answer as I don't think I have a specific time or event that I would like to go to.

If I have to choose then I think I would like to go back to visit one of the Ancient Civilizations Ancient Rome or Egypt I think. It would be very interesting to see their lives then and the wonders of the time as they were being built. Having been to Rome last year and seen the ruins it would have been good to have seen them in all their glory.

Or first century Galilee at the time of Christ to hear and see him for myself.

We had great fun last night at dinner talking about this and hearing what everyone's ideas were about where or who they would like to meet.

My Freedom

This is the new class from Shimelle that I have just signed up to do. It started yesterday, so I am only one day late. It lasts five weeks and there are prompts each day Mon-Fri. Each week there will be two broad topics and this week is Time and Travel, at the end of the five weeks I should have a completed album! This time there is also going to blog prompts - the first was to post a photo of a clock in your house.

This first clock is the one that is in the family room and the second clock is in the living room. It was a gift from New Cumnock church when we left. As I went though the house I discovered that we have a clock in every room (except the bathroom), so time must play quite an important part in our lives. I know I always seem to feel there is never enough time for everything and that time seems to be passing quicker and quicker these days. I also tend to use a diary and in the kitchen we have a calender with a column for everyone in the house, so we all know what we are doing.

I like the school holidays because we are not so tied in to times as we are when the schools are on. The kids can get up later and lounge about more. Although one dispute about time in our house during the holidays seems to be how much time they each get on the computer - so I have started a signing on and off system for each of them, so we can all see how long they have each been on for.