Bargain books!

All these books....

and these too...

for £2.50! My charity shop bargains for this week. A couple of them retail out at over £15 each and two are brand new. Awesomely, knicker-wettingly bargaintastic :)

I am proud to feel smug and gleeful, and am EVEN considering leading guided charity shop tours in the local area, with stop-offs for cake and coffee to refuel. What a great business idea...

Summer Solstice

Summer Solstice 2010

Wish we were here...

But we weren't :)

We wanted to get up for sunrise and drive to a high view point, but with a home ed group at 10.30 a good drive away; a frequently nursing infant and a car sick girl, I was not taking the risk of a 02.00hrs start.

So we had a sunset party in our garden once babe was snuggled and asleep.

Toasting marshmallows with Daddy ("Pixie - they're not vegetarian you know?" "I know mummy, I'm only having a few though!") Pixie says she is now vegetarian, but she will eat only "good quality organic meat". Think I may have influenced her a little.

Rocket and leaves from the garden, home made Solstice pizza (what? it was full of sun-coloured veggies!) and a good dollop of ketchup :)

A lovely symbolic fire

Some cloud gazing as the sun went down

And a small lady getting tired at 23.00hrs, although not for giving in and sleeping - was well after midnight before she settles, and bizarrely, still daylight nearly.

Beautiful Blog Award

Thank you to Rubles for my Beautiful Blog Award a few weeks back!

I think the thing is to pass the award onto 10 other blogs. There are sooooo many out there that inspire, delight, excite, motivate...but I have so little time to read blogs these days. I have a few firm favourites that I love and try to keep up with. Here is my list of seven that I award Beautiful Blog Awards:

1. Miss Meep's Guide to Living
2. Childhood Magic
3. Pixie Mama
4. Free Range Family
5. Roof's Greenerlets
6. Little Rainbows
7. Walk Slowly Live Wildly
8. Bucolic Frolics

I love the fact that these folk keep it real. I find some blogs really too much to take - they're too perfect - in the style of "love and light and a million feckin' fairies shine down on my life"... etc. We all know life can be shit at times, throws a bucketload of crap our way often and is mighty unpredictable.

But in the midst of the mire, there are little shining beacons of light that make you remember why you are alive; make you remember that first pang of love you ever felt; the innocent smiling faces of children who are untouched by the scabbiest happenings in the world...it's these glimmers of hope and love that I adore. Thank you ladies for your inspiration :)

xxx

More jewellery and crochet

Pictures of a recent commission, using reclaimed glass beads on waxed cord.

One for the shop (when I can get two minutes to shove it in!). A New York keyring made from a reclaimed Tiffany bracelet, in .925 sterling silver.

A lovely vintage button and bead thong necklace, made with 1970s vintage buttons and reclaimed wooden beads. For the shop.

After our matching crochet beanies, I felt a bit mean that Tiddly Wink didn't have a new cap :( so I crocheted a pastel-coloured one with Patons Smoothie wool. Here she is modelling this season's warmest hat, whilst shovelling as much melon as feasibly possible into her mouth :)

And I'm spent!