It was Half- term last week....

     .....so we went to spend a couple of days with Paul and Issy in their little house in Malvern....

      ....its a pretty little house, in a pretty little road with the hills are just behind....so we walked with the dog.... had a look round Worcester museum....

            ..... and took a drive to Ledbury.....

      ....the corn exchange...reminding me of "Far from the Madding crowd"....one of my favourite books I have re-read recently.....

      .....its a little town full of interesting buildings and narrow twisty little lanes....

          ......the surprisingly large church and high steeple overlooks all that goes on in the town.....

          ...and it has unusual and stunning stained glass windows too....

The first frost of the winter.....

     .....appeared last night, leaving leafy patterns all over the car and garage roofs.

     However, once the sun came out we were gifted with a most beautiful day.....so, I did my washing, in my new birthday present machine, and headed off out to buy some more pansies to plant up in my back-yard.... seeing as this sharp frost would soon finish off my summer bedding plants.

    But the park was as far as I got, I left my car in a supermarket car park and went to explore  and enjoy the sunshine....kicking myself for not thinking to bring a hot drink and a picnic with me,

             It is a lovely little park, full of doggy- walkers and their dogs, many squirrels, pine cones and falling leaves.... very pretty in the late sunshine.
    Wandered back to my car and bought myself some new tops ready for our holiday.... NEXT WEEK....that has come round so fast....and I still haven't got my pansy plants....ah well, there's always tomorrow.....

A weekend at Pete's flat....

    

 ......a beautiful sunset through the leaves of the huge tree that is by the room window, blocking out the view of the flats opposite, but giving a birds eye view of pigeons, squirrels and even a noisy Jay.....

           .....of course we went here....

.....for our Comte cheese and Darsh's Malaysian curry....

     .....rain, lots of it.....but I walked from London bridge to to Tower bridge....and back....in the dark and with dozens of other tourists....had my supper in Leons by the market.... 

....Sunday morning...

                .....where else, but one of my favourite streets.

     It was just too busy for me and it was impossible to enjoy walking along the front of the stalls.  Headed into the little and very charming shops behind the flower stalls, so busy, we didn't stay long.
The last time I walked there it was just Sara and I, it wasn't a Sunday and we stopped for drinks in that pretty little cafe, we had the street virtually to ourselves....ruined it was, with all those people shoving their way into my precious memories,

       Visited, without pictures, the Jessie Chorley shop.  I love her beautiful stitches on her blog and Instagram and we have admired her shop many times before.
   Sara tells me "its beautiful but you could make this stuff mum".    I wish!!
       I wish I had her skill and eye for creating such beauty.  The lovely lady herself was there, sewing (what else) behind the counter of her shop. "Come and join in one of my workshops" she said as she tucked her leaflet into my bag.  I bought myself her book, (which I had read before I reached home!) and a small kit to sew for myself, I have looked at it, stroked it and rewrapped it, planning to do a bit...lots... of practice before my needle gets near her lovely fabric.

(Now this going to ruin my diary-blog, this post is from 2 weeks previous and has been hiding in my drafts cos I forgot to press publish).

The view from the top of my lane.....

....I suppose it is all going to go.....

            ......now that planning permission has been granted......

                        .....for that 750 houses.....

Fradley Junction.....

....We took a picnic, and the smart car and went for an afternoon of sunshine out on the canal bank...

 

              .....watching the narrow boats squeezing in and out of the locks....

        ......listening to the late bird-song and the sighs of falling leaves....

        .....squinting into the bright afternoon sun.....
     

                   .....we even sat outside for our afternoon tea....

            ...........my plan for the day was to cut the grass, plant my spring bulbs and refill my pots for winter....but I guess there is always tomorrow.

Its been cold, wet and very windy....

.....I've been resisting putting on my heating....after all its only September....

...the trees and bushes are full of berries...

         .......surprisingly there are a lot of House Martins here still, and the ones under the eaves in the house opposite me look as if they are still feeding babies.....

       ......lots of geese are gathering on the nearby pond, I often hear them flying off at night, don't know where they all go, I wonder if they stay around all winter....

        ......and even the Gibb family have flown off to warmer climes...for another three months....heaven knows how much that baby will have grown by the time we see her next!

My little box....

Went to a yard sale yesterday down at the craft centre....found an ancient little hand-made box...

          .....with 5 halfpennys in it, and some strange bits and pieces....

        ..... Darsh doing a few minor repairs...

       ....there was even....

....a threepenny bit hidden in my little box.

A picture of my strange find when it was all put back together?...."no" said my camera....AGAIN.

Saturday night at the Proms....

The plan was to take a picnic, our deckchairs, coats and blankets to the park to listen to the  police  orchestra and to watch the fireworks.

So off we went, parking really easily, right by the park..... maybe the evening wasn't going to be very well supported.

  Then we tried to buy our picnic in Morrisons supermarket....there was nothing left on the shelves, it looked as if locusts had swept through and bought every picnic item in the store.  We ended up with a very half-hearted picnic and headed back to the field with our deckchairs..... quite a few deck-chair carrying people joined us on the way. 

As we went over the bridge, and came out of the trees the music was just starting up....

         .....so many people, tables, chairs, lanterns, candles, flags, lighty-up things, fairground rides, food stalls and dozens of gazebos, all around the edge of the field.
         Obviously Prom night in Lichfield was taken very seriously indeed.

         ....we had a brilliant night, even though it came very cold later on.....

            ......the fireworks were directly over our heads, and at the same time as "Land of Hope and Glory"....a very patriotic event.  Much singing, flag waving and cheering.
        Afterwards everyone filed out and headed home, surprisingly, with Lichfield been such a tiny city, most people had chosen to walk in, so there wasn't  many cars about.  We drove home in minutes and were tucked up in bed when neighbouring families arrived back, flashing a huge torch along the street and still singing "Land of Hope and Glory"
       Obviously we weren't the only ones who enjoyed the evening.  The whole thing was a free event, paid for by the council and local business sponsorship, and it was the 19th year it has happened!

Scarecrow visiting.....

      
      .....in the nearby village of Elford....

        .....this one was selling ice creams and posing for photos in her spare time.  It was a really hot day, the village was very crowded, and we arrived a bit late.

      So we wandered down to the walled garden at the far end of the village.....

        .....the scarecrows were hidden all over the place and suddenly appeared as you turned a corner....Sara you would have hated it!

       ......A late magnolia flower, just for you Charlotte, now you have that huge garden to fill, you can plant your own!

        The late roses were beautiful too, but not very fragrant....

           Berries, flowers and vegetables everywhere, it is a beautiful walled garden.

My camera decided enough was enough and refused any more picture taking, it forgets what day it is and refuses to download, choosing to put photos anywhere it likes, but no longer in date order, so it takes me ages to find them...guess its time for a new one.

     We walked through the village and then on the way home stopped for a drink in yet another pretty village (there are so many in Staffordshire) and found a little Chinese take-away...it didn't look very promising, but had a steady flow of customers, so we decided to give it a try.  The food was super, it really rivals the one at Selina and Pete's.  Hooray we hadn't found a really good one in Lichfield yet.

One day, we will stay....

      ......in this pretty little gypsy caravan which we spotted to rent on our last weeks camping trip to Wales.....

Back home again....

     .....my toes got gradually better until I am back to normal.  One doctor I saw thought I had gout, so after 2 sets of different tablets and quite a change to my diet I seem to be fine again, but I really don't like my evening walks on my own.
       We haven't been very far away, just enjoying the local sights...

.....a picnic in the Market place, watching the tennis on the big screen....

      .....listening to the BBC Orchestra rehearsals in the cathedral.  Rehearsals watching was free, the actual recording wasn't....guess which one we went to?

     .....laughing at the Hare and tortoise auction on the steps of the cathedral.....

              We enjoyed a steam rally, even though the weather wasn't very good.  We didn't take a picnic and were disappointed that the food vans were just a "greasy chip van and a "not very nice at all pork pie and sausage roll" van.

       ....when the sun did come out we sat by the arena to watch the vehicles parade by......

           .....and fall asleep!!!!

     I spent a glorious day in the park.  4 hours on the parking meter, spent sat in the sun, drinking coffee, eating ice-cream, wandering along the paths and having a picnic.


       Last weekend we went to a local country fair.....this time we took our own picnic, so of course the food stalls there were brilliant....Sods Law....there was a WI stall, the local scout troop and several   good local food vans selling many various foods.
     We enjoyed the Llama racing, the sheep show and the Falconry displays.

   

         
           I even managed to win a prize it the raffle.