Dolly's Dreamings

Goodbye Christopher Robin and other such things

We went to see the above named film today and very good it was too. It hasn't had great reviews but I thought it was terrific.

I was raised on Winnie the Pooh - not the Disney version - the real version, the books. My Mom used to recite poems to me when she put me to bed and Vespers was one of our favourites and Daddy used to read to me and it was often Winnie the Pooh. Then I grew to love the Disney version too and collected all of the characters on our various trips and they were a permanent feature in my office that the children loved and a regular feature of my assemblies.  One of the few LPs I kept was my Winnie the Pooh LP - oh yes - I know how to live. ###

So the film was a must for me and it was sad and moving and beautifully filmed and left much to think about. I am so pleased we saw it and I whole - heartedly recommend it

 

I finished my LSNED today and thoroughly enjoyed it again. Not sure if I will print them out or not yet.

 

 

and a paper page to show I do still manage to fit in some scrapping every now and then!!

 

I realised I had very very few pictures of Universal Studios so I have made a promise to address that. Whilst I am not keen on the two parks we have been and they are memories and as such deserve to be recorded. This was Kings Cross and the London area  and I love the picture at the top where I caught Kreacher peeping out.

 

 

Today I am thankful for

• a wonderful September
• Great films - we have seen so many in a month
• author who write such wonderful books they enrich our lives
• Winnie the pooh ... a part of my life

 

and two videos to end with - enjoy x

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wow - today was long

It's amazing how much longer a day is when you get up early.

Well I guess early is a relative term.

I used to be at my desk at work by 7 am - today were were out at 8.15! That's early for us.

 

We took Nigel's car to be serviced and then went for breakfast out. It has been more than a year since we had breakfast out. My last breakfast out was in Anaheim near Angels stadium at a Denny's (My very favourite place for breakfast) on 26th September 2016. See ... more than a year ago.

 

Today Nigel took me to a Premier Inn locally as I adore their granola and he loves their full english. We had been looking forward to Premier Inn breakfasts in June when we were planninga  few days touring around the UK but the roof leaked so we had a new roof instead! Today was lush!

 

Back home - some scrapping, back to pick the car up and then out to the cinema to see Flatliners. We had seen the original 1990 version and this was so much better - a really good film that made me jump - often!

 

I have new scrapping to share today made with a great new collection by Dawn called Fall memories

 

 

 

and this is what I made

 

 

and this is my LSNED for yesterday and today

 

 

Today I am thankful for

• breakfast out
• a productive day
• good films

 

Save

A change in the weather

After the sunshine of the past few days today was greyer and quite dreary though still very mild. We went for a walk to get our drinks and found treasure.

Last week we looked for conkers ... they keep the spiders away - and the pickings were sparse. We had no intention of finding any today but as we got out of the car we spotted a few on the ground and when we started looking a round there were dozens. Three minutes and we had over 40 conkers. Enough - I hope - to keep the bedroom and lounge spider free. The trouble is we put them on the window sills and they become cat toys. We have to then move the bed to retrieve them (the cats like to hide their treasure under our bed) and re-instate them before the cycle starts again. I swear the spiders are in cahoots with them and sneak in when they know it is conker free for a day. I try very hard to keep the spiders out of the bedroom at least - we do spray with deathlaq occasionally but the bedding and carpet is sprayed regularly with peppermint oil water and lavender oil water. It smells nice but to be honest I am not sure how effective it is.

 

I have a new LSNED to share today which includes the treasure trove we found

 

 

and I also have a paper page to share today - made for the weekly challenge on UKS using the photo from Friday.

 

 

Today I am thankful for

• finding treasure - fingers crossed it works
• a lovely scrappy day with a bit of jigsaw thrown in

 

Now I have some special pictures to share of a Bengal cat who, with her owner in Canada, travels. She is such a beautiful beautiful cat and obviously so good to be able to be taken hiking and so on. We loved these photos as many of the places are places we visited on our Canada tour. Would that we had been able to take our fur babies with us.

 

Enjoy the beauty of both cat and scenery

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Save

Paper today

It's been beautiful today - I don't know why people always rave about the gorgeous weather we have in September saying it is an Indian Summer. My recollection is that it is OFTEN beautiful in September.

From heating on last week it is back to shorts and t shirts and the balcony today. Warm, sunny and beautiful.

I have a paper page to share today made with the new sketch on Stuck

 

It is another for our 2016 WOW America album, this time from California Adventures that we thought we wouldn't like and we loved it. Apart from Radiator Springs - which was exceptional - this was our favourite area of the park - Grizzy Peak.

 

 

I also have my latest LSNED to share

 

 

and finally this page made with a superb collection by Tiramisu Designs called Hello September.

 

 

The photos were taken at Westonbirt Arboretum - I would like to visit again one day.

 

Today I am thankful for

• a beautiful day
• exploring
• our balcony - I do love it

 

 

Save

The good and the bad

OK so let's get it over with and start with the bad.

 

It is only my opinion - well actually that is not true - it would seem a lot of other people share my opinion - but I would urge any of you, all of you, NOT to go and see the new film Mother!

Seriously

You will lose two hours of your life and it really will not be worth it.

I kid you not.

We see a lot of films - at the cinema at the moment but we have always watched a lot of films - it is mostly all we watch.  And it was without question the worst film we have ever ever ever seen. And we have see The Doors and Dune and It Comes at Night!

 

The trailer looked good, quite intriguing. We ought to have left it at that. The had obviously invested heavily in a steady cam and were not afraid to use it - for almost every shot! So add motion sickness to the general rubbishness. When I go to the cinema I go because I want to be entertained. I want a film to have a beginning, a middle, an end, some clever lines, some great photography, good actors, well balanced dialogue, occasionally humour, or horror, or poignancy and yes ... a story! Well they didn't manage to tick a single box. I think it was an emperors new clothes film. I think some critics will say they enjoyed it because it is 'out there' but will they really have enjoyed it? I clearly wasn't clever enough to understand it. I found it unnerving, revolting, banal, stupid and oh so frustrating that I lost two hours of my life to it. We ought to have left but the thing is you sit there thinking ... well it will get good soon.... it will make sense soon ... and it didn't.

 

Don't go. Seriously! Or if you do please let me know what I was missing, because it was obviously way way over my head.

 

Anyway - the good. It's been lovely today - nice enough to sit at the beach in t shirts and have lunch. I like that!

 

Ohter good is that it is almost Pickle Barrel time and I have a page to share as a teaser ... it is with a collection by Dita B that you will find in store tomorrow and I just loved the elements like the phone box and the bike.

 

Look out for the Pickle Barrel - it's a stunner this month.

 

 

I also have the next LSNED to share

 

 

Today I am thankful for

• sunshine and relaxation
• painkillers - long story but I also blame the film for that too!!!
• Finding a replacement handbag as my beloved Kipling that has travelled the world with me died yesterday (that was the film's fault too!!!!

 

 

I saw these mats on line and thought they were good fun. I want the GoT mat!!!

• 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Enjoying the water

There are lots of places in the world I think I might like to live - but all of them involve water. I have a thing for water. It is what does it for me every single time. Lakes, rivers, streams, ponds, beaches, the ocean, the harbour. It is always water. Without water any scene doesn't seem quite complete to me. So today when we thought of lots of great places int he countryside to go for a walk - I bailed at the last minute. And we re-routed to the quay.

I realise how lucky I am to live in a  town where there is water everywhere. We walked through Poole Park - cue Lake - to Baiter - cue sea - to the quay - cue the harbour - and then through the old town via Starbucks. Lovely. Who needs to go away when you live in a town like Poole.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I have my next LSNED page to share

 

 

and I also have a new page made for Shimelle's class to share

 

 

I loved the welcome on our first day in Florida last trip. I even used glitter to do the letters and you KNOW how I hate glitter!!!

 

Today I am thankful for

• a lovely Sunday morning
• living by water
• a lush lunch

 

and my final batch of those awesome bar codes

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A perfect day

Day has been just wonderful. After a lie in we went into town to do some chores and get a Starbucks. We took our drinks and some rolls to Hamworthy Park and sat on a bench by the sea enjoying the sunshine and then we went to the cinema to see Victoria and Abdul and have a pizza for tea. A perfect day.

Neither of us had ever heard about Victoria and Abdul and so it was fascinating. It was a very enjoyable film and we have now read up a little more on this most unusual of relationships.

 

This is my LSNED for the past two days

 

Dawn has a wonderful new collection out today and I couldn't resist making a  page about some great creative work children in my class did .. they are the moments - probably the ONLY moments - I miss about teaching.

 

There are three sets all called Lightbulb Moments and these are the elements - they are so quirky and so much fun - her illustrations, as always, are superb.

 

 

Today I am thankful for

• free desserts
• chillaxing days
• good films
• weekends

 

 

 

Funny how busy changes

I used to know what busy was like - I really did. These days it doesn't take much to make me think I am busy.

Today was such a day.

I was out of the house by 9 - dashed back to swap bags over to collect art stuff and grab an apple and then dashed out again and have been 'busy' most of the day. Busy doing nice things but busy none the less.

Still it is Thursday which means it is the weekend now!

 

I had fun at art with a completely new style but it is nowhere close to being finished yet - but I am having fun and have added gouache to my steadily growing art kit!

 

I have some new scrapping to share today which is for the mojo challenge at Pickleberrypop which was cutting a  picture up into strips. I struggled with it a bit but it was worth the effort. Don't forget you can find the monthly mojo challenges here

 

 

2016 was most definitely the year of the gorgeous sunsets - although now it is getting dark earlier I shall try and capture the sandbanks sunsets again. The trouble is they are just so lovely you end up taking a whole heap of pictures all of which look exactly the same.

 

 I also have another LSNED page to share - I am doing them in pairs so it is a little disjointed.

 

Today I am thankful for

• some new challenges - and more to come
• new techniques to learn
• the sat nav in my car - I rarely use it but it was great today. It's not a true sat nav it is Apple Car Play Nigel had fitted for me so Siri controls everything which is pretty cool.

 

 

 

Save

Thankfully safe

We have been watching Hurricane Irma all weekend and today as we have friends and family in many of the affected areas and thank goodness they are all OK. Some have lost power and some have teees down and a lot of water but no serious damage and for that we are grateful.

I have just seen in our own weather forecast we have winds of 40 plus miles an hour due tomorrow night - I will remember to be grateful they are not higher.

I have been out working with Nigel today. He had lots of small jobs to do and so I was the driver. It worked well and we even managed a break in Starbucks - what's not to like.

 

I have a new LSNED page

 

 

The photo is my cousin's husband and son who have been evacuated due to Hurricane Irma. Today's page documents one of the most frustrating phonecalls I have had in a  long time. Over and our on the phone to a big corporation who have no clue and one department gives totally the opposite information than another. It left em feeling very very cross and frustrated, but I stopped myself by remembering that today of all days how much we have to be grateful for. This time last year we were in Seattle watching the memorial services on TV. This time 16 years ago, as the twin towers fell, I packed my Daddy's suitcase for him for what would be his last stay in hospital. He passed away on 15th September and his passing is always inextricably linked with 9/11 for us.

 

In other scrapping news today I made this page for the weekly challenge on UKS. The photo is of a very old pub in our home town - over 600 years old. Some things change little whilst others seem to speed by.

 

• Today I am thankful that family and friends are safe

 

 

and finally - thought these were cute - great bar code ideas. I think all bar codes ought to be special.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thinking of friends in Florida and Georgia

It makes the rain of the last few days here seem pathetic. England has, by and large, gentle weather. The information about the hurricane seems so variable and we are watching updates carefully. I feel so sorry for the people int he islands who have already suffered such devastation. I hope that people in Florida stay safe. The warning are very severe and hundreds of thousands have been told to get out to safety. The news has just said 6 million. It must be a terrifying thing to experience - to leave behind everything you own and not know what will be there when you return. I know they are only 'things' but they are YOUR things. Just awful.

Thoughts and prayers for everyone affected in any way.

 

I have news of new scrapping things today.

Dawn has a lush new collection out called Don't Be Sad and it reduced at the moment

 

I made this page with it - definitely not sad. Just a very happy photo of three gorgeous girlies.

 

 

I also scrapped with a brand new template collection called Wanderlust #6 by Heartstring Scrap Art and it is an amazing set

 

This is what I made with it - our Death Valley trip

 

 

Today I am thankful for

• Time with a friend who has amazing equipment - we are having stuff embroidered and printed
• an easier day
• the weekend
• being safe

and finally LSNED

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Save