MIAM

MIAM

Saturday 28 February 2015

Scavenger Hunt - February

Another month has passed by in a flash and here I am posting this month's snaps for Scavenger Hunt already.  Again, big thanks to Greenthumb for hosting and providing us with inspiration.

Flowers

 The fragrance of these hyacinths filled the room. 


Love

While I can't be sure that Prudy feels love for me,  I certainly feel it for her.
This last week has been very emotional as she was an extremely poorly puss.  She is not out of the woods yet, so please keep your fingers crossed for her.  

Number
 Taken a while ago...can't remember where.

Something Beautiful

 The latest addition to the family,  my cousin's baby - Sophie Rose


Your Favourite Colour



Bird
 This pheasant was legging it.... trying to escape pesky visitors at a National Trust property.

On the Road

 Boris's bikes



Tap

 A revoltingly ostentatious tap that I recently discovered in a salvage yard


Price

 Bargain of the month, a pair of cropped jeans for under a pound!  These will be pimped up in due course.


Heart

Heart Art on Hastings beach


A Corner Of Your Home  


Whatever You Want

and finally,  just to a give you all a laugh...me as a toddler.


Please do check out the other link ups and next month's list  here.

Wednesday 18 February 2015

Fat Tuesday


Last Sunday the sun came out !  Which was rather fortunate as me and my mate Sue, had decided to bomb down to Hastings and pay their Fat Tuesday (Mardi Gras) festival a visit.



Hastings lies in the east of Sussex and is famous of course, through its connection with the Norman conquest of England.  For centuries Hastings was an important fishing port and still has the largest beach-based fishing fleet in the country.  The town was popular in the 1760's for therapeutic bathing and then with the arrival of the railways it became a seaside resort.  Nowadays locally it has a bit of a bad rep due to high unemployment and lack of regeneration in some areas of the town, which is a shame, as I reckon that Hastings has much to offer. 

I'd learned about the four day Fat Tuesday festival from a Sussex publication and thought it sounded fun.  Sunday's festivities commenced with the Umbrella Parade along the seafront, brollies (and their owners) had been delightfully pimped up for the occasion, seemingly with no particular theme present.





This chap's brolly-hat declared  DEATH TO THE MEERKAT

 referring I imagine to the tv advert variety.

The parade culminated at St Mary in the Castle, seen here on the right and as the procession wended its way up the hill, the umbrella canopies made a wonderful sight.




An afternoon of New Orleans jazz was scheduled to take place at St Mary in the Castle but we decided to return later in order to take full advantage of the much longed for sun and after a bite to eat in a friendly café, we hopped on to the West Hill funicular railway.



  Completed in 1891 the railway provides access up to the castle ruins and St Clement's caves.
 
The castle was built in 1070,  now not much remains. Over the centuries large sections of the cliff face have fallen into the sea along with parts of the castle.  The ruins are open to the public but the entrance fee was too pricey for us so we wandered around the hill top taking in the views....


....and arsing about.

 
 

There's a wealth of history in Hastings and as we strolled around the old town we checked out the old buildings and wonderful architectural details.





After a brief gander around the many independent shops....

(Hastings has loads of second hand, junk and charity shops)

...we headed over to the beach where we watched fisherman bring in and unload their catch of mussels.



By this time it was mid afternoon and we still hadn't been to any music venues so we rushed back to hear the New Orleans jazz and just made the last two numbers.


Onwards to The Carlisle, a biker-friendly pub well known for its punk, rock and metal gigs.


The pub was banging with a punk band in full swing when we arrived and the amongst the crowd were some interesting characters, not least this bearded dude dressed in bobble hat, fur coat, lacy petticoat and trainers.

 
 I would have loved to linger and engage him in conversation but the punk vibe was not Sue's bag so after a few tunes and a quick pogo we headed back to the car.  As we drove home along the seafront the sun was getting low so I made a hasty pit stop at St Leonards to take a couple of obligatory sunset pics.



 

All in all it was a rather brilliant day. Thanks Hastings you did not disappoint.  

Thursday 12 February 2015

Cowl Completed

I've been knitting and crocheting frenziedly lately, so determined was I that I was going to finish my latest project while it was still winter. I've seen lots of cowls/snoods online and in stores and thought it couldn't be too hard for a novice knitter like me to knock up... and even better I wouldn't need to follow a pattern.  It started as a knit but after seeing Kate's lovely crochet ruffle edging HERE, I knew mine was going to follow suit.




Anyways I don't think I've done too badly for my second knit ....it was started on 20th January and completed last night.  (OK, I will admit I was going hell for leather in the final stages as I wanted to show it off at 'Stitch & Bitch' this morning)



  I am quite proud of my cowl and enjoyed making it a lot more than my first knitting attempt seen HERE  (which took me 5 months to complete!)  The crochet ruffle edging was simplicity itself and finished it off nicely.  It was admired by a friend of mine whilst still a WIP so it has now gone to her.


I really enjoy my local Knit n Natter group, although if I'm honest the cake and chat is as much of a draw as the knitting and hooking.  I don't go as often as I'd like because rather irritatingly, work has a habit of getting in the way. There was much mutual admiration of projects today and no sooner than I'd gasped over these lovely socks knitted by Helen, they were mine.  How lucky am I ?


I should be doing boring housework this afternoon but instead I've just hooked up my next project.
What is it?....you'll just have to wait and see.
x