If you have arrived here to take part in the It's A Creative World Blog Hop don't worry - you are in the right place. The blog hop continues here, but as I blog every day you need to just scroll down to yesterday's post.
If you look at Yesterday's post you will find not only my Spring creations and ideas but also details of how you can win a free voucher for Pickleberrypop. All you need to do to be in with a chance of winning is comment in yesterday's post and I will pick one winner at random on Monday. So, nothing to loose, scroll down and comment on yesterday and, if you have time, join me for today's post as well.
Today looked glorious, and so we packed a picnic and headed out to do one of our favourite walks over Hengistbury Head to Mudeford and back. Well that was the plan. Trouble is we were both fooled by the best April Fool of them all - the weather. We got out of the car at Hengistbury Head and it was cold. Not chilly .... cold. Way too cold to go for a long walk by the ocean in what we were wearing. Way too cold for a picnic on the beach. What April Fools we were. .. dressed so inappropriately.
Back int he car and plan B. We stopped off at Stewarts Garden Centre and bought supplies for our many many visitors to our bird feeders and they we headed to Wooton Bridge in the New Forest. It had warmed a little by then and we sat and enjoyed our picnic amongst other people doing the same thing.
My photo fo the day is of Nij, still looking chilly, and there are a couple of other pictures thrown in for good measure.
The water is crystal clear there but what I would like to know is how the toddlers playing int he streams in just underwear and wellies were surviving. They were paddling way deeper than their wellies and taking great pleasure in emptying the water out of them and that water must have been icy cold. Oh my. It made us shiver to even contemplate it.
I didn't get to post a picture of the day yesterday as it was blog hop day so here are my new comfy walking shoes for summer and sooooo expensive (£6!!!!)
Now before I share some new scrapping I have to share the best April Fool I have seen today. It landed in my in box this morning and I am sure others had it too.
Don't you just love it!
Anyway - new scrapping to share today is a page I made yesterday for the weekly challenge on UKS. It was to use a list, scraplift a page you liked and also use numbers. I made this for my '10' album about 10 National Trust properties I love. We get so much pleasure from our National Trust membership.
I scraplifted a page by Karen that I loved and she used flowers and leaves punched from pages of an old book. I couldn't bear to cut a book up so I stamped papers with text stamps and worked with that.
The three properties showcased at Stourhead, Stowe Gardens and Lyme Park - our top 3 properties.
Today I am thankful for
- sunshine and picnics ... but maybe not for warmth
- ice cream
- a tidy desk (you had to see it an hour ago to really appreciate that one!)
My one minute devotional calendar page today is
MYSTERIOUS WAYS
I really don’t like the color purple. My husband, David, found this out one Valentine’s Day when he brought home a bouquet of purple flowers that didn’t elicit much enthusiasm. It became an inside joke among my family and closest friends.
My love of flowers, though, goes back to visits with my grandma at her farmhouse, and the phlox and iris that grew in her garden. On one visit there, the two of us sat in her kitchen eating homemade buns smothered in fresh butter and her own strawberry jam. We talked about what heaven must be like. “Whoever gets there first should send a sign,” we joked.
Grandma lived on the farm until she turned 92, when her health started failing. She ended up in an assisted-living home, had a fall there, and had to be taken to the hospital. The healing process was slow, and when David and I visited her in the ICU, she was foggy and disoriented. We talked about her garden and the farm, and I promised to bring her flowers as soon as she was out of the ICU. I even asked her what color she would like. “Purple,” she replied.
She never recovered. I was able to sit with her for a long time in the hospice room, holding her hand, telling her I loved her, even reminding her of our pact—that sign that now it would be up to God to send. But the day of her wake, I was overcome with grief. David took my hand and showed me the floral arrangements that had been sent. Among the ferns and azaleas, a basket of purple flowers caught my eye.
I looked at the card. It was from our friends Sue and Paul, and it made me smile, because they knew just what I thought of purple flowers. Later, I found Sue in the crowd of mourners. She gave me a big hug. “Thanks for the purple flowers,” I whispered.
She looked at me quizzically. “What purple flowers?” she exclaimed. “I ordered red and white ones.”
Father, help me to see signs of You all around me.
