Dolly's Dreamings

Two go tramping in Dorset

 
It was too nice a morning to stay in and so we headed off to Deepest Dorset - well Twynham - this morning.

Nig had done the cliff path walk to Warbarrow Bay from Tynham carpark with his brothers and walked back up the sheer cliff the other side. They had had great difficulty with Elfin down the steep path and it had become my personal Everest. I have no idea why - I was just daunted by the prospect. I had put it off several times. The day we went to Durdle Door we were meant to do the Tynham walk but I chickened out.

Anyway, today was the day.

Now there is a nice flat path the 2/3 mile down to the bay from the car park, but that wasn't thr route we were taking. We were going up up up and then down down down. Why? Welll because we could I guess.

This was the view over the bay in the distance when we started.

And this was the view up the hills

Doesn't look much but we were heading up those hills.

But the views were fabulous as we walked (and the poctures don't show how steep it was in places)

We passed cute cows

and even saw lots of beautiful common blue butterflies

the view back down to the car park about 1/3 way up

 

ah - a flat bit at last

and a stitch of the view

 

and then the bit I had been dreading. I have knee problems and going down slopes hurts my knees. And boy was this a slope. It was steep and quite scary. the pictures don't do it justice actually and I was concentrating so hard I only took a picture of the impending drop. once walking I forgot to take any.

 

You can just see the drop off we were heading for.

BUT I made it and I was dead chuffed with myself too.

OK so on a  scale of 1 - 10 it was probably only a 3 for most serious walkers but it was a huge achievment for me.

 

We came back the quick and easy way!!!!

I thought I ought to share my page for prompt 22 that went live yesterday.

 

I love my home town of Poole. I really do. I count myself very blessed to live in such a beautiful place. The two pictures I used are the new marina on the quay and the old town. The old Poole sign (made of Poole pottery tiles) and the new sign that is seen around the town boundaries are also photos. I also used the town crest.

Finally I have to share a gorgeous photo of my little monster boy I took just a few minutes ago. He was in the scraproom (rare as he is a bad boy in there) and sitting nicely on the windowsill.

My quote for today is

Today I am thankful for

• time off together to walk and have fun
• Fiki

And finally an e mail to share

It came with lots of lovely Peanuts pictures.

Schulz Philosophy
(This is marvelous!!   Scroll   thru slowly and read  carefully to receive and enjoy full effect)

The following is the philosophy of Charles Schulz, the creator of the 'Peanuts' comic strip.

You don't have to actually answer the questions.   Just ponder on them.
Just read the e-mail straight through, and you'll get the point.

1.. Name the five wealthiest people in the world.
2. Name the last five Heisman trophy winners.
3. Name the last five winners of the Miss America pageant.
4 Name ten people who have won the Nobel or Pulitzer Prize.
5. Name the last half dozen Academy Award winners for best actor and actress.
6. Name the last decade's worth of World Series winners.

……………………………………………………………………………………………

 

The point is, none of us remember the headliners of yesterday.
These are no second-rate achievers. They are the best in their fields.
But the applause dies. Awards tarnish.
Achievements are forgotten.
Accolades and certificates are buried with their owners.

 

………………………………………………………………………………………

 

 

Here's   another quiz. See how you do on this one:

1. List a few teachers who aided your journey through school.
2. Name three friends who have helped you through a difficult time.
3. Name five people who have taught you something worthwhile.
4. Think of a few people who have made you feel appreciated and special!!
5. Think of five people you enjoy spending time with.

Easier?

The   lesson:  
The people   who make a difference in your life are not the ones with the most credentials..
the most   money...or the most awards.
They   simply are the ones who care the most

 

Walk around Wimborne

Well the forecast for today was grim but actually it has been lovely. It looked like it was threatening rain, but the sun came out and it was warm and very pleasant.

So we headed off to Wimborne. It is a town we visit a lot, both to go to and to drive through en route to a lot of places. It is a very pretty little town and just right for a walk to admire the many Georgian buildings.

As it was, in part, to do a weekly walk with my camera we also took a lot of photos of pretty buildings and here are a few.

The minster in Wimborne is really old and very beautiful.

There is also a very beautiful quarterjack who bangs his drums every quarter of an hour.

 

We wandered around the town and then headed, on foot, out of the town to the market where we had a little browse before walking back to the car.

There is a new 5210 prompt and this time it is available for download on 4 shared

The link is here PROMPT 22

I will at least be able to see how many people are actually downloading this way as asking for comments doesn't really give me a true indication.

Shopping heaven

I think .... OK I KNOW ..... that I may have become a shop-a-holic.

I think it is because I can get clothes that fit now. That and the fact I just love new clothes.

We hit castle Point today and I got some lovely tops and two dresses. The dresses and the nicest top i have ever ever seen all came from per una and the other tops were the 'other' george LOL from Asda.

I also came home and ordered a skirt from per Una as they hadn't the size I needed in store. they only had a 16 and I needed a 14 .... and you have no idea how good that felt! Never had a size 14 skirt - not since I was about 14 years old I don't think.

Consequently i haven't done much scrapping and what I have done I can't share yet.

But, in the words of Blue peter - here is one I made earlier.

It was made for the latest A True Friend challenge which was about wether or not your pet is a leader or a follower.

Well, having two CFH you have one of each all the time. When Kira is content to be a follower HE leads and when Fiki stops she then leads HIM into more trouble.

It really is a case of double trouble.

I hope you like the new blog banner - I did make that today. The tag and snapshot  word art and flowers are all Dawn Inskip's designs. The bluebells are from a photo I took the other day and the CFH  are all mine. Well half mine and half Nigel's LOL

My quote day is

Today I am thankful for

• size 14 skirts and lovely tops
• Starbucks (oops!)

Hooray for Holidays

Yey

Half term holiday

How fab is that!

School finished at 4.00 today and I am soooooo glad I need a rest - I truly do.

We went to see Nij's consultant afterwards and he has allayed our fears and so we are much happier that things are progressing as we thing they should be and more importantly as HE thinks they should be. So to celebrate we went out for a TGI meal and it was wonderful!

Blew all my hard work mind you. I had been the lowest i have ever been today but guess I will have scampered back up those scales a bit. Still, it was totally worth it.

The page here is another I made with Dawn's Goody Gumdrops kit. My poor little Boo tends not to get scrapped as much as her brother, so she features here.

I received a load of e mails from Nigel's cousin Norma today and this one needed sharing.

 

A 54 year old woman had
a heart attack and was taken to the hospital.            

While on the operating table she had a near death experience. Seeing God she
asked "Is my time up?"              

God said, "No, you have another 43 years, 2 months and 8 days to
live."        

Upon recovery, the woman decided to stay in the hospital and have a
face-lift, liposuction, breast implants and a tummy tuck. She even had
someone come in and change her hair colour and brighten her teeth! Since she
had so much more time to live, she figured she might as well make the most of
it.                    

After her last operation, she was released from the hospital. While crossing
the street on her way home, she was killed by an ambulance.    

 

Arriving in front of God, she demanded, "I thought you said I had
another 43 years? Why didn't you pull me from out of the path of the
ambulance?"    

      

God replied: "I didn't recognize you."      


Moral of the story:  God loves you the way you are.

My quote today is

Today I am thankful for

• Nigel being healthy
• Half term holidays
• Sesame Jack chicken strips and salad

And today's cute pictures are also from Norma

 

Pure Joy .... not all day

I wasn't looking forward to today as i was on a course that I knew would be traumatic. And it was.

It was a Domestic Abuse awareness course and the statistics were sebering.

1 in 4 women will be a victim of domestic abuse (and lots of men are too)

Domestic violence is the biggest killer of women .... more than cancer and road accidents.

It was an unpleasant course for content but was also very very slow paced and in a room that was glacial. The air con was on high and it was freezing. It warmed up to a tollerable level b y he time we left .... just in time to be too late.

On a far more cheerful note here is a page I made this week using a new kit by Dawn Inskip called Goodie Gumdrops.

She is such a beautiful little poser at times.

My quote for today is

Today I am thankful for

• Being in a loving home and not having to fear for my safety on a daily basis

 

 

If you go down

If you go down to the woods today - well actually last week - it was beautiful.

I have scrapped our walk in the Bluebell Woods at Pamphill for my walks album.

It really was stunning and I can't wait until I have chance to scrap the pictures in real life at half term.

I am not in school tomorrow. I am on a course I am really not looking forward to - a domestic violence course. as Child protection officer at school I feel I need to go as we do have children touched by this at school. But i fear it is going to be very harrowing.

I came home today to find my wonderful husband has rebuilt the pergola that colapsed almost three years ago. It looks better than it ever did. he has worked so hard on the outside of the house. he has painted the balconies, pressure washed the patio and the front steps, planted the beds, painted the garage door and is still going strong. He is doing so much and it looks wonderful.

My quote for today is

If that is true I am staying young forever because I am really good at playing!!!

Today I am thankful for

• a hardworking, skilful husband

Walking by the Stour

I finally got round to scrapping some more walk pages and here is the page about our walk alongside the River Stour earlier this month.

It was a very different walk for us and one we really enjoyed.

I am pleased to say that after the difficult few days our children are back home from France, they arrived at almost midnight last night and their luggage arrived at lunchtime today. However, our problems were slight compared to the poor people in Cumbria dealing with the loss of 2 teenagers and a driver in the school bus crash up there. It does make you see things in perspective.

Early night for me tonight. Being up until way after midnight to deal with parents and welcome the children home and back up at 5.30 this morning makes for one very tired headteacher.

My quote for today is

Today I am thankful for

• The safe return of our children
• A dedicated staff team
• Luggage return

 

Challenges - and there have been some!

Oh boy - today has been a challenge. In so many ways.

But, I have stayed positive; the only down side was I nibbled naughty stuff to keep me going but heck .... such is life eh.

My page for my 5210 album was all about challenges and here is the finished and complete page - I only shared glimpses yesterday.

 

I am thinking about doing the rest of the 5210 workshop/class in a different way and e mailing the prompts to people who want them rather than taking up my entire Sunday prompt on them. It will also give me a truer idea of how many people are actually interested. I am already looking at what i might do for a class next year so I need this sort of feedback for my own sanity.

I will give it more thought but for the next prompt I may well invite people to comment that they would like the prompt and then I will e mail it to them. Or I will upload it to 4 shared so I can actually see how many are still downloading to give me some feedback. I just need a more accurate picture.

I am very grateful to the people who have made a donation to my Just Giving page - there are very few people who have given but I am greateful to those of you who have and thank you for the lovely messages that accompanied the donations. I have raised over £175 for the hospice and whilst i would have liked to have raised more I think it is still a very creditable amount.

My quote for today is

Today I am thankful for

• coaches (I think!)
• mobile phones (I think)
• ISAMS
• my home made salad dressing

 

 

 

 

52 in 10 Prompt 21

Here we are again .... another week on .... another prompt.

 

I think there are still a few of you watching and playing, but I guess I knew that by almost half way it would be pretty much done.

I hope that you have enjoyed the prompts and making the pages and that you have found the class fun and interesting.

This is the final prompt connected to work and is all about challenges.

 

I enjoyed the challenge of making the fabric flower!

 

 

Wonderful weather for the time of year

Yey - summer is here and I am loving it.

Today i got to sit in my lovely tidy garden, read and sunbathe and chill out. Might have overdone the tanning a bit but heck - I needed some colour.

Then we popped out to the garden centre and I have replanted all my pots at the front and Nij has planted loads of shrubs where we had bare patches from trees we removed last May.

The page here was made with Dawn's new corners and stick people kits.

The photo is of the clematis at the front of the house which has been glorious this year, as has the blossom on the cherry tree and the azaleas.

Isn't it funny what a difference a year makes. This time last year Nij was still working, we were both more stressed and he looked like this!!!!

Bless him - he was getting over the most awful case of chicken pox.

Now I am not sure how many of you watched Ashes to Ashes last night. I thought it was absolutely fabulous. Incredibly well done and brilliantly scripted and worked out. I cried buckets and am so sad it is over. It has been an incredibly series, as was Life on Mars. I can't wait for the DVD to come out so i can watch all the extra bits. I am sad it is over .... not least because I will sorely miss my weekly fix of the Gene Genie.

My quote for today is

Today I am thankful for

• A lovely garden to sit in
• Aero ice-cream
• Weekends