Frugal decorating

Yes, if your elder daughter finally gets to bring home her GCSE Art & Design final pieces, they can go up on the wall in the lounge.  

These are our favourite pieces, and it is no surprise to me that she was awarded an A grade for this work.

This one was inspired by the trilogy of books which begin with The Hunger Games, which we both read and loved.  The mutt on the left, the suicide berries at the top, the bread in the middle, and Rue's burial at the bottom, and then Katniss on the right, dirty and bloodied from her time in the arena.

This is a huge art work and looks modern and dramatic in our lounge.

This one is from a project which had the title, "Beginnings" and I love the way she has used such a variety of textures and media here.  The couple and the background are painted in acrylic onto the board, the shells which look like butterflies are done in oil pastels and stuck on, as are the hands, which are drawn in biro.  The chap has quite an Elvis quiff there which we think is quirky and fun, and the lady's pregnancy obviously reflects the title.  This was her last final piece [I know that sounds weird but she had to do several mini projects and each one had a "final" piece, but this is the last one!] and it is just beautiful.

This one hasn't yet been prepared for hanging so it is standing on a table, propped up against the wall whilst we find somewhere more permanent for it to live.

NB These two pictures are strictly copyright to Growing In The Fens, as they are the EFG's own work.

Waving at Gill from Gloucester

I'm going to put the Dove conditioner samples in the post today or tomorrow, depending on when I get to the post office, and I have addresses for everyone, except Gill - I have looked at your blogger profile, and you don't seem to have a blog linked to it, so I can't comment there, and I can't send you an email - so PLEASE could I have your address to send the parcel to you?!  Just comment and I won't publish the comment........Thank you!

Is that the time?

(image from ebay.co.uk)

A very early start this morning as the YFG is off to London on a school trip and needs to be at school at 7.45am!

She's off here:

(image from london-attractions.info)

The Natural History Museum - that brings back memories from childhood school trips!

Hope she has a good day x

2013 dates already

(image from colourbox.com)

I can't believe how quickly this year is disappearing!  Now that we are in November, we are getting appointments and dates made for times ahead in 2013 and I thought it was time to get the new household planner made for 2013.  I spent an hour earlier this week printing off pages from this website, and picked out a 19p binder from the stash in the stationery cupboard, along with a 56p set of page dividers I had bought from a "reduced to clear" bin at the supermarket.

I have set it all up just as I described here in October since this plan has worked well for me this year.

Marking up people's birthdays is the fun part, but I will also mark the calendar pages with school holidays, and the appointments from the various doctors and consultants that the FH sees are put on there as soon as we get them.  I also insert all the dates on which payments are due into our accounts so that I can keep an eye on the bank balances more easily - one is paid monthly and stays the same each month, but the others are paid four-weekly, so they vary each month.  My income is invoiced and paid at irregular times as well, since some of it depends on chicken breeding and sales, and some on gymnastics.  I obviously can't mark that up!

The next part of my financial plan will be to look at the spending over the year, and plan goals for 2013.  For sure, it won't involve buying two new-to-us cars, but it might need a little home renovation work - the shower room ceiling may need re-skimming, and we definitely need a new bath panel.....

Not in my kitchen, Nigel

(image from bbc.co.uk)

Now, don't get me wrong, I like Nigel Slater.  I love watching his tv programmes and I have a good selection of his books, but it is his mode of grocery shopping which I cannot abide.

He empties the fridge [not got a problem with that - seems sensible] but then he wanders around the shops and buys whatever takes his fancy.....

There are two kinds of grocery management which I can get to grips with, and I do a bit of both - the pantry principle [you buy what is on sale and eat from your cupboards] and meal planning [you plan your meals and buy what you need to make those meals] but his idea seems a bit too laid back for me, and I suspect that in real life, he is just feeding himself and his partner and he can get away with this sort of thing.  Households full of children needing to be taken places after school rule this sort of shopping out for a lot of us.  I suspect that it is not that economical either, although he does talk often about making the most of his ingredients.

More holiday photos

This is the peace and quiet of the caravan site - a 240 acre woodland with walks and paths through it to the static caravans, whereas the touring caravans and tents are on more open heathland.  The sunlight through the trees can be especially pretty.

This shows the path through the woods down towards the railway line.  

When we got down through the woods to the railway line, I was thrilled to hear the chuff-chuff sound of the steam train coming up the hill!  We sat at the camp halt and waited to see the train pass within a foot or two of where we sat!  I believe this is called the Poppy Line and it runs from Sheringham to Holt, stopping at Weybourne.  Trains do stop at the camp halt but only on the return journey when it is downhill!

My favourite view from the camp halt across the fields towards Weybourne and the windmill there.

Slightly to the left of the first view, in larger versions, you can see Sheringham Shoal wind turbines in the sea in this shot - faint white lines in the sea on the horizon.  Click on the picture and make it bigger and then you will see them!

I do enjoy the woodland and the trees in this area - it is SO different from the flatness of the Fens!

Can you spot the squirrel in the middle of this picture?  It has a mouth full of leaves, which it then took up into the trees into its drey, high above the path.  We stood and watched it for several minutes, and it took quite a roundabout route to get to the little home it had made in the treetops, then another squirrel came along and went much more directly to the drey.

All Saints

(photo from www.ramptonchurch.org)

This is All Saints' Church, in Rampton, about 10 or so miles north of Cambridge.  It is my childhood church, the one I attended every Sunday from the earliest memories I have, right up until I was nearly 19 and leaving home to go to university.  We moved out of the village two years earlier, but still travelled down the hill to worship here.

(photo credit as above)

I remember many years of worship in this church, many traditions and much community spirit and love shared amongst the congregation there.  It wasn't a huge congregation all the time, it ebbed and flowed as they do, but there were some amazing characters there who I learned a lot from.  They were mostly older people, who had time to talk to a young girl, and share memories.

I no longer worship in the Church of England tradition, having moved over or out to Methodism now but I am very grateful that I have found another church home where I feel as welcome and as valued as I did back then.  The denomination may have changed, the building in which I worship has changed and the style of worship is incredibly different, but it is the same God, and He is worthy to be praised.  I like to think back and remember this old church on All Saints' Day, because that is remembered in its name.