Hobbies

Second puzzle of the summer finished and no bits missing - phew, the only problem with charity shop jigsaws is you can never be absolutely certain it's all there until the end.

So I've mended the box, stuck on a label saying 'Complete'  and it's off to the charity shop.

I'm not starting a new puzzle straight away as I want to use the table for a bit of papercraft card making, speaking of which.........look what I found at yesterday's boot sale............a carrier bag full of crafting bits and bobs for £3. I had no idea what was in it for sure until I got home and unpacked although I'd spotted two books and a Framecraft Mirror  to put cross stitch in. There are always some on eBay selling for £8 each but luckily I've found several for much less over the years. I stitched 2 for Sister and Sister in Law last Christmas..... or was it the Christmas before?

When I sorted everything out I found quite a lot of useful stuff including 3 gluesticks, craft papers, a big bundle of silver tissue paper, some silk ribbon, foam glue dots, all sorts of bits that were free on the front of a cardmaking magazine and the mag was there too with ideas for using them. A good £3 worth that's for sure. One of the books and the cup-cake boxes will go to the charity shop. Perhaps someone running a Macmillan Coffee Morning later in the month will find them.
The only other thing I got  yesterday was a new pack of 16 fat wax crayons for small children for just 20p.

 The other day Sue in Wales asked if I had unpacked all our books .......I wish........... but this bungalow is Small and I mean SMALL. We only bought  the bungalow because it was detached, in a quiet part of Ipswich, with room for the caravan and didn't need anything doing to it. Space for over 1,000 books wasn't a priority. Back in January and February 2015 I took photos of all the bookshelves we had at Fareacre, they are HERE  if you want to see them..........13 separate posts!  We had room for all the books on shelves in the hall and under the stairs. I got rid of several books before we moved but there are 22 boxes still packed away. Here there is just room for one bookcase with 5 shelves and a lot of the books on the shelves are Col's that he thought he might want to re-read while he's recovering during the winter.

  The only books of mine that I've already read  are just a few that I couldn't bear to be without. (Hovel in the Hills for instance) Most of those piled up at the front have been acquired by me since we arrived here......whoops!  Annieb asked if we were going to move to somewhere bigger just for the books - yes as using a kindle instead would be far too simple!.............and we need room for the grandchildren! :-)
Now here's a funny thing ........... the other day I said I was reading my first ever Barbara Pym - A Glass of Blessings" so I go to write it down in my book-of-books and lo and behold I've already read "An Excellent Woman". When? Where? I don't remember it at all. Shall have to borrow it and re-read. I do sometimes worry that I read so fast that I don't remember a thing about what I've read. Should I  read everything twice? Although as I don't have to answer exam questions on content perhaps it doesn't matter.

Not a good weekend for the poorly man, a nose bleed lasting 16 hours because his platelets are so low meant a night without sleep. More test results due today perhaps the doctors will find out why various blood counts are not recovering as quickly as they ought to be. Because of rain, being worried enough to visit him 3 times on Saturday and being tired Sunday I didn't get to any of the Heritage Open events that I'd planned on seeing. I wanted to visit Ipswich cemetery and the old Broomhill swimming pool...............next year perhaps.

The weather forecast for here for the next few days is HOT, much  hotter than it should be for mid September. I'm looking forward to going to the beach hut at least one day .......haven't been for a couple of weeks and with children all back at school it will be nice and quiet again...........makes me sound like a grumpy old woman.......Oh yes...........I am!

Back ASAP
Sue